I'm Ready, Break Down The Barriers
by OurLadyGrem
Summary: Timmy wishes for Cosmo to become a genius, but this means Anti-Cosmo - the opposite of Cosmo in every way - will have to live with being dumb for the rest of his life. Faced with trials in love and self-discovery, they come to learn that intelligence, or lack thereof, doesn't account for everything.
1. Act One

**Title: **I'm Ready, Break Down The Barriers

**Disclaimer: **I don't own this show.

**AN: **Another result of high dreams. This is my first attempt at writing a story more than ten thousand words, and updates will be irregular due to university demands.

_let's ride_

* * *

Timmy wishes for Cosmo to become a genius, but this means Anti-Cosmo - the opposite of Cosmo in every way - will have to live with being dumb for the rest of his life. Faced with trials in love and self-discovery, they come to learn that intelligence, or lack thereof, doesn't account for everything.

* * *

_Act One: _Carpe Diem

...

"Why does so much bad luck happen to good people?"

Timmy sighed, and let his head lean into his hands as he sat on the edge of an abandoned train stop.

Timmy and his fairies would often visit there if they didn't want to be seen by anyone. It was far out of the way of civilization as this part of the train tracks had long since been forgotten. The tracks were old and rusted, and the train stop was covered with overgrown plants. Despite the place being neglected, the nature that had grown on top of it made it look a lot more beautiful. It was a place Timmy could call his own, completely discarded by the rest of the world, and he would often go there to escape from his everyday life.

This time, Timmy just had to get away from his babysitter Vicky for a while. She was in the mood that day to be a little more _experimental_ with her torture devices. And as soon as she broke out the flamethrower, which she had personally modified to also work as a chainsaw, Timmy knew that was his cue to poof away from her alongside his fairy godparents.

Cosmo and Wanda were floating nearby him as they watched him dangle his legs over the platform and sigh once more into his hands. Cosmo tilted his head in a deep contemplative thought.

_Bad luck... why does bad luck happen..._

Cosmo thought as he tapped his chin. He was sure that knew the answer to that. After a few silent moments, Wanda replied for him with a laid-back wave of her hand,

"Bad luck is caused by anti-fairies, sweetie."

Cosmo was instantly snapped out of thought.

"Oh yeah, that's right! Wanda, have we met some anti-fairies before?" He squinted his eyes as he thought once again, harder this time, "There were two anti-fairies in particular that are very familiar to me..."

"You're thinking of our counterparts, Cosmo." Wanda said half-heartedly, far too used to her husband's shortcomings at this point.

Timmy asked curiously, "What're anti-fairies?"

"They're the evil counterparts of fairies with the sole purpose of causing bad luck to humans on earth. Whenever a superstition like breaking a mirror or spilling salt occurs, an anti-fairy appears and causes misfortune!"

Cosmo was still racking his brains beside her,

"I remember the names of the two most evil anti-fairies that were also very familiar to me... wait a second... it'll come to me..."

Wanda rolled her eyes this time as she answered for him once again,

"We're trying our best to contain as many as we can, but sometimes the odd few slip by us and cause mischief." She said, and finally turned to Cosmo to end his personal torture, "At the very top of the evil anti-fairy pyramid are Anti-Wanda and Anti-Cosmo. They're the evil versions of us."

Cosmo's face brightened up as he finally realised who they were, but his smile soon faded after he remembered exactly who they were to him.

"Oh, I remember them now... man, Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda are horrible!" He told Timmy bitterly, "They're always trying to take over the universe and take away our godkids. And whenever we run into them, Anti-Cosmo always makes me feel like an idiot!"

Timmy opened his mouth to comment about that, but chose not to as Wanda's gaze back to Cosmo said all there needed to be. Wanda's exasperated expression spoke louder than she ever could simply by raising an eyebrow. And after a few short silent moments passed between them, Cosmo choked up when he finally caught on to them.

"Hey! C'mon guys, I'm not that dumb!" Cosmo snapped in defense, clearly hurt by their accusing looks, "And, y'know, Anti-Cosmo isn't as smart as he makes himself out to be!"

Timmy and Wanda only glanced at each other with doubt.

"Does it really matter?" Timmy asked him as he suddenly noticed that Cosmo's lower lip was trembling with emotion. Timmy wondered sincerely,

_Was he really that hurt?_

Wanda slowly and carefully inched closer to him,

"Cosmo, honey, I don't care if you're not very smart." She said softly as she attempted to console him with a comforting hand placed over his shoulder, "That's not the reason I married you."

But as she came closer to him, Cosmo backed away from her in defense,

"Well it matters to me!" Cosmo pouted as he crossed his arms in a huff.

Wanda didn't respond. In fact, she almost found it amusing the way he was acting about the whole thing. Cosmo always acted like a little kid when it came right down to it. He was always wearing his heart readily on his sleeve and acting on the first thing that came to his mind. And though sometimes this would be annoying or even a little hurtful at times, Wanda found it to be sweet trait of his. It was even a little adorable in some instances. So when Cosmo crossed his arms and pouted his lower lip like a sulking child, Wanda couldn't help but stifle a laugh.

Suddenly, Cosmo turned back to Timmy with determination and floated down to him to look him square in the face,

"Timmy please, wish that I was smarter!"

Timmy flicked his eyes to Wanda for a moment before hesitantly returning back to Cosmo. And with one eyebrow raised, Timmy was tempted to believe that Cosmo was serious about this.

"You really want me to do this?"

"Yeah!" Cosmo shouted with a hard nod of his head, "Then I'll rub it in that anti-fairies' face! I'll show him who is the dumberer one!" Cosmo said as he puffed out his chest and attempted to act tough. Wanda failed to conceal a small giggle.

"Well, if this is really what you want, Cosmo." Timmy said hesitantly as he stood up from the edge of the platform.

He cleared his throat, and thought a moment about the phrasing of his wish. It was rare for his fairies to prompt him to make any of their wishes come true. Usually they'd just do it themselves. However, once a child made a wish for them to grant, it would become almost irreversible for them unless the child would take the wish back. It was risky, and potentially dangerous, but Timmy didn't think too long on it.

I mean, how dangerous could a little personality change be?

Finally, Timmy said aloud, "I wish Cosmo was a genius."

Cosmo grinned as he and Wanda waved their wands into the air, though he waved his wand a little more enthusiastically. Suddenly, Cosmo's head started to glow bright. He was pulled forward by the increasing mass of his head until he stumbled to the ground. He was absorbing so much information into his mind all at one time, it was almost too much for him to bear. There was just so many facts, so many statistics quickly flourishing inside his small mind, so much knowledge, so many different thoughts...

Wanda and Timmy ran to him and held on to his shoulders for support. It was worrying to see Cosmo doubling over on the ground and hearing him quietly groan, all while he held on to his head as if he were in pain.

And after a very long minute or two of waiting for the glow around his head to fade, Cosmo staggered away from his wife and godchild and wavered into the air. He slowly blinked his eyes open and squinted as he adjusted himself to the bright light.

_Was it always this bright outside? _He wondered.

Cosmo felt dizzy and disorientated for a while as he was barely able to make out Wanda or Timmy calling to him from a distance. It took him another few moments to finally recognise and understand Wanda's voice beside him.

"How do you feel?" She asked him gently, and placed a comforting hand on his arm.

"I feel a little... dizzy." Cosmo said shakily, then took a deep breath.

It was all so strange and dizzying. The entire world was suddenly so clear to him. He knew the answers to so many things, he had learnt so much about the world in a matter of seconds, and his mind was alive with activity. He had so many facts crammed into his mind, so many things looked at in different perspectives and finally so many opinions spurring within him that made him almost stumble backwards from the backlash of it all. Nevertheless, he kept his balance well and breathed deeply. It was funny, he felt, how clear as day everything was now. He felt calm, at peace with himself, and yet so keen to learn more and experience everything.

He smiled towards Wanda in excitement, feeling incredulous about this newfound knowledge of his,

"I feel... exuberant!"

"Hey, he used a big word." Timmy laughed, "And your voice sounds a little... posh?"

"I guess it comes with the territory of being a genius." Cosmo said smugly as his voice grew more audibly rich and experienced.

Wanda removed her hand from his arm and looked over to him in constant state of unsteady awe. Then Cosmo looked more determined, before he clenched his fists as he proclaimed, "Now I can show that indigenous anti-fairy who is the most intelligent, and I'll finally secure myself as the rightful superior fairy!"

"Sounds like you two have had quite a lot history." Timmy laughed as he was completely amused by this new advanced vocabulary that Cosmo has suddenly adopted. And in the corner of his eye, Timmy noticed with surprise that Wanda was becoming more reserved, and she was suddenly smiling a lot less. Meanwhile, Cosmo's grin widened as he continued testing out his intelligence,

"Oh yes, Anti-Cosmo was always the first one to trick me into the most strenuous situations. Once he lured me into a vat of acid after telling me that it was a huge bowl of chocolate pudding." Cosmo shook his head as he reluctantly remembered the incident, and finally shot his head up with excitement, "Well the tables have turned! Now that I'm a genius, I'll be able to see through his trickery and avoid any further humiliation!"

Cosmo laughed triumphantly and held his head up high with pride. Timmy grinned as he was happy now that Cosmo was enjoying the outcome of this wish. He watched Cosmo announce to the skies that the world had better be prepared for him, especially the anti-fairies, now that Cosmo's mind was armed with an intelligence that challenged the likes of Newton and Einstein.

However, Timmy couldn't help looking beside him at Wanda who only looked towards Cosmo with worry in her eyes.

Once Cosmo's gloating had finished, he turned over towards Wanda to take her hand. She let her hand fall loose in his grip as she reluctantly looked over to Cosmo with a cocky grin and a smug eyebrow raised. With a mischievous smile, he moved closer to her to ask,

"Well Wanda, my dear, how do you like your new husband? Truly remarkable, isn't it?"

Wanda hesitated for a moment, and almost winced at the way he spoke to her. She glanced quickly to the ground in hesitation. Then she looked back at him with a weak smile to reassure him,

"Sure, honey. If it works for you, it works for me." She said as she shrugged her shoulders a little.

Her supportive words were enough to satisfy Cosmo as he spiraled into the air to exclaim his superior intellect to the world. Timmy, however, was still suspicious of Wanda's retreating behaviour. He was about to ask her what the problem was, but Cosmo quickly interrupted him as he grabbed hold of them both by linking his arms through theirs and suddenly lifted them into the sky.

"C'mon family, let's go rub our noses in that anti-fairies faces!" Cosmo laughed with excitement, and Timmy shut his mouth.

_Maybe this can wait until later._ Timmy thought as he watched how happy Cosmo was, but in the back of his mind he was worried for Cosmo's wife who had grown far too quiet for his liking.

...

Meanwhile, in the anti-fairies castle, Anti-Wanda was busy in the study with her husband. They were working to create the next diabolical plan for world domination, as usual.

Anti-Cosmo was working on some kind of transportation device that would allow them to move about without being detected by other magical beings. The fairies of Fairy World, especially Jorgen Von Strangle, were keeping a very close eye on the couple since they had been working harder than usual to come up with foolproof plans that would lead them to successful world conquest. Anti-Cosmo felt he was on to something big this time as he decided that if he were to take over the world by force, he would have to do it in the shadows. It was of utmost importance that they keep themselves hidden and evade any enemy. Since Jorgen had thrown them into their castle under house arrest, it came increasingly difficult to carry on their plans without being caught.

So, Anti-Cosmo was busying himself with a piece of crucial machinery for the part as his transportation device, while he was surrounded by maps and blueprints he had concocted himself.

Anti-Wanda, however, hadn't contributed at all at this point. This was the part of the scheming where she would wait until Cosmo was done with the technical junk, since she couldn't quite understand how all of this advanced technology worked, but she was always willing to help with the menial tasks while her husband worked on the more intricate and dangerous parts.

She was fine with that, as long as she felt that she was pulling her weight on her end. For now, though, she was occupying herself with a sandwich he had made her from earlier... holding it with her feet, of course.

"Dear, can you pass me the monkey wrench?" Anti-Cosmo called over to her, and she was immediately snapped out of enjoying the food he made for her.

Anti-Wanda took a moment to envision what she was about to poof up for him, and finally waved her wand. She giggled as she poofed up a live monkey just inches above of Anti-Cosmo's head. He cautiously looked up after he wondered what she was finding so funny, and his eyes widened in shock just before he felt the impact of being impaled by a life-sized, energetic primate.

"Anti-Wanda!" He shouted in anger as he struggled to break free from the monkey's iron grip, "Get this thing off me immediately!"

"Sure." She said with an uncontrollable smile and poofed the poor thing back to Earth.

Anti-Cosmo stood up with his hair messily ruffled out of place and patted himself down from the filth and pieces of machinery fallen upon him, and found it extremely difficult to find his balance once he finally got to his feet. His wife fell into a fit of laughter as she watched him, and dropped her sandwich to the floor as she collapsed on the sofa nearby. She could feel her sides splitting from laughing so hard.

"You think this is amusing, do you?" Anti-Cosmo accused her with a judgmental arched eyebrow, and leered over at her as he approached her.

Anti-Wanda's giggles died down as she felt the shadow of Anti-Cosmo overcome her, and she looked over at his furious face. She gulped as she knew she really was in for it now.

Then, Anti-Cosmo said with a sigh, "I just made you that sandwich and you go ahead and drop it on the floor like some barbarian. You can't very well eat that filthy thing now."

Anti-Wanda tilted her head to the side, a little surprised that this was what he was annoyed at her for. Then, with a big goofy grin, she leaned forward on the sofa towards him with enthusiasm.

"Does this mean you'll make me another one?"

Anti-Cosmo looked at her with exasperation. "You can't be serious."

The longer Anti-Cosmo looked into his wife's glassy eyes, he knew that she was completely serious about this.

Anti-Cosmo sighed in defeat as he placed a hand to his forehead with exhaustion.

"Anti-Wanda, my dear, I'm in the middle of something of _great_ importance here, and I'm finally getting close to a revolutionary breakthrough. Can't you keep out of trouble for, I don't know, ten minutes? Not even five?"

She could only grin at him, innocently using this silence to tell him that he was really out of his depth. And when he sighed one final time, knowing that this was clearly a losing battle on his end, he gave into himself and smiled to her.

"I suppose I have been working too hard lately. It won't hurt to take one quick break." He said as he brushed a few loose strands of messy hair out of his face, then flicked his hand half-heartedly at his wife, "Scoot over, love."

Anti-Wanda shuffled up the sofa until her back was leaning against the arm of the chair, and held her legs up to her chest until Anti-Cosmo collapsed in a heap across from her. He threw his head back on the pillows and rested his arms wide across the back of the chair, and finally gave in to the sweet sensation of comfort taking over him.

Anti-Wanda moved slowly towards him and rested her head on his shoulder before closing her eyes. As she rested a hand on his chest, she took comfort in the sound of Anti-Cosmo's breathing, as it soothed her when she felt her head lift slowly up and down from his deep breathing. It was moments like this that she felt truly at peace. Lazy days when she would spend her time resting up against her spouse who she loved dearly. It was times like these that she wished more of.

But she didn't plan on slowing down Anti-Cosmo one bit. He had dreams, very large dreams, that he planned on seeing through to the very end. She didn't want anything to interfere him, not even herself. He dreamt of world conquest, becoming ruler of all life in existence, with her always and faithfully by his side. Anti-Wanda didn't have any personal ambitions, nothing beyond a ten-foot BMT sandwich, so she was determined to try her best to help make her husband's dreams come true.

It was times when she spent peaceful moments with Anti-Cosmo like this, times when she felt happy and completely whole, that she realised that, really, her dreams have already come true. She was in paradise.

"I swear, it's like I'm married to a cat rather than an anti-fairy," Anti-Cosmo said softly to her as he placed his arm around her, "All you do is eat and sleep. Don't you ever get bored? Don't you ever want to do anything other than wait around for me?"

"No." She said simply. Her voice was barely a whisper as she was drifting off to sleep.

However Anti-Cosmo was serious about this. All she did was sit around and wait for her cue to become part of his evil plans. If she wasn't waiting, she was eating or napping, either one. He didn't want her to feel like he ruled her life, he wanted her to feel like she's more than just a faithful subordinate. She was his wife, and although that meant they're tied down to each other, it doesn't also mean that she's tied her entire life to him.

"Why?" Anti-Cosmo said aloud as he moved strands of blue curly hair out of her face. "You're not just some subordinate that I order around, are you? No, you're my wife, Anti-Wanda. You're an anti-fairy with your own mind... no matter how small. You must have some thoughts, aspirations, something. Why do you devote all of your time here, with me? Don't you feel trapped at all?"

"Happy." She said with a shrug, and finally moved up from him to look at him gently, "I'm happy here."

He paused for a moment as he gave himself a few moments to calm his racing heartbeat.

"If... that's how you really feel."

"It is. But right now..." Anti-Wanda said as she moved her head closer to his, until they were only inches apart. The gap between their lips was gradually getting smaller and smaller, and her eyelids were becoming more heavy as she hovered closer and closer. She could feel the heat radiating from Anti-Cosmo face as he burnt up the closer she got, and she finally parted her lips as she sweetly whispered, "...will you make me that sandwich?"

Anti-Cosmo almost surprised her with his sudden burst of laughter. She was unsure whether or not she was meant to be joking.

Anti-Wanda really was simple, but truly a sweet woman. Anti-Cosmo didn't feel the need to press her anymore, as he felt relieved after having her clear this up with him. Although it would still be an issue nagging him at the back of his mind, he didn't feel too worried by what she said. He felt more reassured by how she said it, as if she breathed the word 'happy' straight from her heart.

He looked down to her simply to look at her. She was smiling. Anti-Wanda truly was happy, and she looked so peaceful sitting there beside him. The way she clung to his side as she lay her head back down on to him, and the way she tucked her legs over his lap like a bride told him everything he needed to know. She was so good at expressing her feelings and letting him know he was loved.

He often wondered if he did a good job of doing the same. Anti-Cosmo would hope that she didn't get the idea that he was just using her. He'd hate to make her feel lower than she really was.

So Anti-Cosmo was careful to talk to her as often as possible. He might not be that good at expressing it himself, but he was a genius. He could always tell her how he felt, no problem. He had a very good way of stringing words together to sound so sweet and sincere, and she would feel weak in the knees as a result.

As long as he had the intelligent capacity to tell her how he felt about her, he felt their relationship was completely safe and secure, for the rest of their days.

Unlucky for Anti-Cosmo, Timmy had made a wish to make Cosmo smarter, and Anti-Cosmo was the polar opposite of him. Thus bringing an end to Anti-Cosmo's paradise...

…


	2. Act Two

...

_Act Two: _Failure

…

Suddenly, the floor beneath Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda started to shake.

At first it was a small rumble, knocking their balance off the sofa a little, until suddenly it was a large shock of lightening that seemed to burst through their roof and through their walls. Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were knocked completely off the furniture and on to the floor. They clung to the ground and looked at each other with wide eyes, unsure of what had just happened. Anti-Wanda hurried to her feet and rushed over to his side.

"Anti-Cosmo, are you okay?" She quickly said, and held him up as she noticed he had taken more damage than she had.

He held his head with his hand, then found himself a little disorientated and dizzy. It was as if a large chunk of himself had been knocked out of him and he wasn't sure where he was. It took him a moment or so to get himself together, until he could finally acknowledge Anti-Wanda clinging desperately on to his arm beside him.

"I'm... okay. I think?" Anti-Cosmo shook his head, unable to get the right words out of him until he realised he couldn't remember how to piece together any words at all. "I don't know..."

"Why don't you lie down for a while and I'll get you some water." Anti-Wanda lead him back to their sofa and laid him down gently before rushing to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Anti-Cosmo was still in a state of confusion, dizzy from the impact and dizzy from so much information suddenly missing from his mind. It was as if he physically felt his IQ level drop down exponentially within a matter of seconds, and it didn't feel good.

Anti-Wanda promptly returned with a glass of water and handed it to him. She watched him intensely as he gripped it, but he could only stare at it. It was as if he forgot how to handle drinking a glass of water, and suddenly there was so much pressure on him on how to bring the glass to his lips.

After a few short seconds, he suddenly flung the glass of water at his face at top speed, and spilt all the water over his face and splashed his wife next to him. They both stared at each other for a solid minute, both unsure of what was going on.

"Why did you do that?" Anti-Wanda asked him slowly, somewhat scared of what was happening.

"I think... I can't remember how to drink?" Anti-Cosmo was shocked at himself more than Anti-Wanda was. Then she gasped as she realised,

"Oh no, that shock of lightening must've made you forget how to use a glass of water!" She exclaimed.

Anti-Cosmo nodded in agreement, as he thought that _must_ be the right explanation to all this. He thought to himself that she was the smartest person in the world at that moment. And at that moment, he suddenly knew something was wrong with that sentence.

"Something's not right here!" Anti-Cosmo said and surprised them both as his voice was somewhat slower and louder than usual.

Anti-Wanda noted how unsophisticated he started to sound and it began to scare her even more. She didn't like what her husband was turning into and she was scared for him. She was unsure of what to do for him and how to fix this. She found herself taking a step back a little, like a scared little child looking into the eyes of a stranger.

"Hey Anti-Cosmo!"

Suddenly, a voice sounded loudly from outside and instantly distracted the both of them from this situation. Without a moment to spare, they sprang from the couch and sprinted away to meet whoever was calling them. It was as if they were desperately running towards some kind of explanation for all of this.

As they ran out of the front door of their castle, they withheld their surprised gasps as they met up with Wanda and Cosmo along with their godchild Timmy. Cosmo was floating before them, puffing his chest out with confidence and grinning widely towards the anti-fairies.

"Cosmo?" Anti-Cosmo shouted at him as he stumbled forward, and Anti-Wanda flinched a little from how loud his voice was becoming next to her.

"I'm here to challenge you to a game of chess!" Cosmo exclaimed, beaming with confidence as if he offered him a once in a lifetime chance that he couldn't afford to miss out on, "Unless you're too afraid of losing to a genius like me."

He rubbed his knuckles on his chest before grinning at him, and baited him further to accept his offer. Anti-Cosmo was steamed. He forgot all about his current situation with Anti-Wanda and decided that could wait. Without thoroughly thinking it through, Anti-Cosmo yelled at him in response,

"You're on, Cosmo!"

He tried thinking of a witty comeback, or any kind of insult that he could come up with, but nothing conjured up. He was angry at Cosmo for this sudden intrusion, but also slightly afraid of what had come over him. Usually he could think of several insults by now to throw at Cosmo and impress his wife, but this time his mind had drawn a blank. He remained silent, feeling only anger and dizzying confusion.

Quickly, they had all been poofed to a dark room by Cosmo, presumably to some school's janitor's closet Timmy thought, with a dim light bulb hanging down from the ceiling and shining down on a chess board.

Cosmo floated up to one side of the board with an all-knowing grin still on his face. Wanda and Timmy lagged behind him, as they were still going along with this for the time being. Timmy's main focus was on Wanda as he noted more and more on how little she was enjoying this and seemed only to go along with the flow of things. That wasn't anything new, as that was her general attitude for everything, but this time she looked a little hesitant and slow moving around Cosmo, as if she was put off by something.

Anti-Cosmo floated to the opposite end of the chess board, adjacent to his opponent, while Anti-Wanda floated nearby and worriedly watched her husband. She still hadn't figured out what was wrong with him and knew he had to rest or do something unrelated to this. She was at a loss on what to do, so she stuck it out behind Anti-Cosmo under the false pretense that he will think up something brilliant soon.

But her hopes were shot down as time and time again Cosmo would win each match. He'd beat him in a matter of minutes, getting more cocky each and every time he said the words 'checkmate'.

"What does this horse do again?" Anti-Cosmo would ask him as he held up the knight piece and Cosmo would raise an eyebrow before explaining.

Anti-Cosmo's behaviour was not lost on Cosmo. He noted how usually Anti-Cosmo would be a lot smarter than this. By now, Anti-Cosmo would be challenging him with clever manoeuvres and hitting him with a string of insults, but instead Anti-Cosmo was almost always silent. Whenever he'd open his mouth to say things, they'd be questions on how to play the game or something else that was dumb and completely unrelated to anything. It was like something the old, stupid Cosmo would say...

Suddenly, it hit Cosmo like a ton of bricks. He stopped the match they were engaged in suddenly, and dramatically flipped the board to the side. As the chess board and the pieces dramatically flew off to the other side of the room, Cosmo instensely took Anti-Cosmo's arms in his firm grip.

"Cosmo, what the heck are you doing?" Timmy shouted in surprise. Wanda quickly flew to Cosmo's side and Anti-Wanda was close beside Anti-Cosmo's, finding themselves at an intense standoff as Cosmo glared at his counterpart in the eye.

"Tell me, Anti-Cosmo, has anything strange happened to you recently? Something like, I don't know, a weird phenomenon that can't be explained?" Cosmo asked him as he kept a very close eye on him. Anti-Cosmo perspired within his intensive stare, and took a large gulp before replying weakly,

"Uhh, I forgot how to drink a glass of water." Anti-Cosmo said, and looked over to Anti-Wanda for a moment to confirm it. She squeezed her hands together as she watched him shrink under Cosmo's grasp. She found this all the more out of character for him.

"Fascinating. I have a theory." Cosmo exclaimed, and quickly released Anti-Cosmo before he paced around the tipped over chess board. Only parts of his figure were revealed by the dim light of the bulb as he walked around the room and continued, "It seems that if anything significant happens to one fairy, their counterpart will experience the exact opposite of that. So, in this case, as I got smarter, Anti-Cosmo got a whole lot dumber."

"What?!" Anti-Wanda shouted in shock, looked over to meet Anti-Cosmo's worried gaze and they both finally realised the heavy gravity of this situation. "Well we've got to make him smarterer again!"

Wanda brushed her hand over Cosmo's forearm, and immediately he relaxed.

"Cosmo, we've proven that you can be smarter than Anti-Cosmo." Wanda said softly, finally speaking up after all this time, "Maybe we can quit this charade and return you back to your usual self?"

Cosmo looked to Wanda as she smiled back at him in return, then he turned over to Anti-Cosmo who looked just as miserable as his wife, and he sighed. He couldn't deny it, this was another failed wish that had to be undone before anymore damage was made to either of them. So, Cosmo reluctantly and sadly looked over to Timmy, clearly not ecstatic about the prospect of becoming dumb again, and told him with an exasperated sigh,

"I guess we should go back to the way things were, if it'll make you happy."

"If you say so." Timmy said, and noticed how glum he looked but also took note that Wanda seemed almost relieved. As Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda looked desperately towards him to make the call, Timmy hesitantly stepped forward to take a deep breath, "Okay then, I wish..."

"Stop!"

A voice boomed from the distance. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in the corner of the darkened room, and a pair of clunky boots stomped towards the dim light to reveal himself.

Jorgen Von Strangle!

He appeared suddenly from the smoke, broke Timmy's sentence and caused a physical rift between them all. His voice was monotonous and commanding as his hardened eyes surveyed them all, and his loud voice continued to boom,

"Anti-fairies are under house arrest. You two are out of bounds!"

Just then, Anti-Wanda and Anti-Cosmo were expecting to be dragged back to their castle together by Jorgen, until they realised he had only grabbed Anti-Wanda, along with Cosmo instead. Cosmo had no time to react as he struggled in his large fist.

"Wait a minute, you idiot! You've got the wrong Cosmo!" He shouted to him, and tried his absolute best to wriggle out of his grasp. Wanda and Timmy quickly ran after him in protest, while Anti-Cosmo was hopelessly trailing behind them.

"Give me back my husband, you big ape!" Wanda shouted to him angrily.

Jorgen stopped in his tracks, looked down at Cosmo in his hand and stared back to Anti-Cosmo. He looked incredibly skeptical at the both of them before telling them in his authoritative voice,

"Don't try any tricks, you two. I remember how smart Anti-Cosmo was," Jorgen pointed his large, menacing wand towards Anti-Cosmo who cowered in his action, "And that does not look like the face of a smart man."

"But if you just listen, you'll know it's just a huge misunderstanding..." Timmy attempted to explain, but Jorgen had waved his wand whilst he was talking.

As quick as lightening, Timmy, Wanda and Anti-Cosmo were instantly poofed back to the abandoned train spot where they were hanging out when Timmy had first made the wish. It took them all a full minute and a half to realise what had just happened, only to look at each other with the exact same worried look passed between them.

...

Meanwhile, Jorgen had thrown Cosmo and Anti-Wanda into the anti-fairies' castle and slammed the door behind them, before shouting to them that they were not to leave or let anyone in. If they were to break these rules once more, Jorgen would imprison them in the high security prison in Fairy World along with the rest of the captured anti-fairies.

Cosmo hurriedly scurried up from the wreckage he was thrown in and ran towards the locked door, banging on the wood with his fists and attempting to poof away with his magic, to no avail.

"This is just great, now how am I going to get out of this mess..."

Cosmo paced the hall to think intensely, and stepped past a bewildered Anti-Wanda who had just stumbled back to her feet.

Anti-Wanda watched him from afar. She found a familiar feeling bubble within her as she watched him busy with ways to escape or contact help. It was almost eerie how alike Cosmo was acting to Anti-Cosmo all of a sudden, especially with how similar they looked as well. She blinked twice to remember that she was looking at the counterpart of her husband. She had to quickly remind herself that he was the one who had landed them all in this mess, and promptly her anger rose.

"Hey you!" She shouted to him, and squared her angered eyes to him in fury, "What did you do to Anti-Cosmo?"

"Did I not explain this to you before, you idiot!?" Cosmo yelled back as his impatience got the better of him, "I made myself smart, and thanks to our existences being intertwined, I had also inadvertently made Anti-Cosmo dumb. So when it seemed like we had switched personalities, it all led to Jorgen mistaking him for me. Now I'm stuck here with you... until we can think of a way to get us all back to the way we used to be."

Cosmo yelled at her in fury, and kicked the door with frustration before leaning on it with both of his hands.

Anti-Wanda backed off a little, as she suddenly felt intimidated, but also intrigued as Cosmo sounded like he was more angry with himself than at her. Cosmo's hands hung down by his side as he turned around to lean his back against the door. Eventually, he shrunk down it in defeat and sighed, and sat with his back against the wood. He ran an exhausted hand through his messy green hair and let it fall back idly over his exasperated face.

"All I wanted was to be smarter. I wanted to prove to myself that I could beat Anti-Cosmo at something." Cosmo paused when he found himself feeling disturbed by what he just said, "No, I don't think that's it. It was never just about beating Anti-Cosmo, that doesn't sound like the full story."

He ran both of his hands through his hair. After a short few moments of silence, Cosmo let his head hang down with his hands resting on his hair, and brought his legs up to rest his elbows on his knees. He didn't want to look Anti-Wanda in the eye and acknowledge the fact that he was stuck there in the anti-fairy castle, feeling lost and completely hopeless.

"I suppose... I just wanted to be smart for a little while. I didn't want my family to look at me like some useless idiot that can't do anything right. They can't come to me for advice, they don't look to me for reliability, I'm just that cutaway character that makes stupid jokes to make the kids laugh. Well, it's not all it's cracked up to be. I'm just a damn fool."

Cosmo leaned back, resting his head back on the wooden door, and Anti-Wanda could plainly see the pained expression on his face as he continued.

"Y'know, for once it would be nice not to be feel like a total failure all the time."

He took a deep breath as he looked up to the ceiling, and closed his eyes as he finally realised,

"Turns out I was wrong about that too. Seems like even a genius can make a mistake sometimes. So it must be me. It seems no matter what I do I'll always be a screw up."

Anti-Wanda couldn't find it within herself to scold him anymore. Something in her stopped herself from saying anything else. Her mouth hung open for a moment before receding, and realised that now probably wasn't the time for a lecture.

But she knew his pain. As he lamented to her, she could feel herself relating to him more and more, like he was putting all of her feelings finally into words. All the times she felt useless in the situation, like her presence was sorely unneeded there, she felt as if it would be better if the earth had just swallowed her whole. She'd give anything to help, to do something, that would help her and her husband in any situation that's possible.

And she looked at him with a melancholy gaze, and noticed how his sorrowful eyes were reminiscent of when Anti-Cosmo sulks after a plan of theirs fails at their expenses. She wasn't sure if the same method of cheering up her husband would work with Cosmo, but since they were more of less the same person, she felt it wouldn't hurt to try.

Without a moment more to think it through, Anti-Wanda slowly placed a soft hand on Cosmo's head and ruffled his hair a bit, to his immediate surprise.

He looked up at her and noticed that she was smiling sweetly towards him. Her eyes were sympathetic and she remained silent. It was strange, but it was comforting to him. Cosmo was somewhat touched by the way she tried to reach out to her, despite the mess he had put them all in, and smiled to her with gratitude.

Then it was as if a silent understanding between them had unknowingly been made. Two morons, knowing far too well what it was like to be intelligently short-handed, finding comfort in each other's company after realising they weren't alone in feeling this way. They both understood each other from a certain perspective, and although Anti-Wanda looked a little perturbed by this, she didn't look completely out of her depth.

"Anti-Wanda," Cosmo said with sincere curiousity, "Are you happy?"

She tilted her head to the side as she found it to be a completely odd question after all that's just been said. She crouched down to rest on the back of her heels until she was at his eye level, and answered simply.

"Yeah, I am."

"Doesn't anything bother you, though?" Cosmo pressed on as he leaned closer towards her, "Are you alright with... being stupid?"

He felt no reason to beat around the bush, since they both understood just what they were talking about and what they understood about each other, but Anti-Wanda seemed to look a little annoyed.

"I may be stupid, but that doesn't mean I don't have to be happy." She pouted her lips as she looked at him squarely. "Why does it matter if I'm not smart? Does filling your head with useless facts make you feel better about yourself?"

Cosmo was taken aback by how assertive she's suddenly become, and the scariest part is that she actually started to make sense. She huffed before she continued,

"Intelligent people spend their whole lives with their nose in the books, trying to cram all the little bits of pointless information they can fit into their brains, trying to out-intellectual the other intellectuals while they miss out on what's going on right in front of them."

Cosmo squinted his eyes at her in wonder,

"And what's that?"

"They miss out on life." She said plainly with a shrug and a smile. "Do yourself a favour, Cosmo, and stop worrying about your failures. Everyone makes them. You said so yourself, right? Um, even a genius can makes mistakes, was that right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Cosmo replied contentedly, finding so much comfort in her words.

"I'm happy, Cosmo, because I don't wallow in the ghosts of my past. I make lots of mistakes, but I don't let them rule my life." Anti-Wanda gently told him, her eyes softening with understanding. "Although I don't blame you for feeling bad, I feel real bad when I mess up too, but you live and you learn."

Cosmo nodded, a sincerely gratuitous smile formed on his face as he finally felt at ease with himself. He knew full well that Anti-Wanda had a solid point.

For him, it was strange looking at Anti-Wanda and seeing pieces of Wanda within her. She was compassionate and sweet, to an extent. Her strong southern accent was like a false mask, creating the allusion that she wasn't as wise as she seemed. And it was true, what she lacked in knowledge she excelled at wisdom. She looked at life from a very simple perspective, not that she had much choice, but it helped her see things as they are, and then beyond. It was admirable, Cosmo felt, and he felt thankful for her honest advice. At that moment, he really needed it.

"Thanks, Anti-Wanda. You've really helped me put things in perspective." He told her sincerely.

"I better get a pizza out of this, I don't offer my services for nothing!" She teased as she stood back up to her feet, and then her thoughts wandered to images of freshly baked, straight out of the oven pizzas, and she fought the urge to drool.

Immediately, Cosmo perked up. A glimmer of hope shone in his eyes, which Anti-Wanda saw and would usually notice in Anti-Cosmo's eyes, and Cosmo suddenly stood up with determination and confidence in himself.

"Then, I suppose sitting around sulking isn't going to do much good for us. C'mon, let's go think of a plan to get us out of here!" He said proudly, and quickly strode away from the door entrance with a spring in his step.

_Deja vu? _Anti-Wanda wondered.

Anti-Wanda was surprised once again as she noticed how similar Cosmo was acting to her husband. It was strange watching him stride away, just as Anti-Cosmo would, and it was as if he had never left. She shook her head to remind herself that he was definitely not her Anti-Cosmo and that she was only confusing herself, and quickly followed after him... as she would her husband.

...


	3. Act Three

...

_Act Three: _Anti-Cosmo's and Cosmo's plight

...

On Earth, Anti-Cosmo was less than calm. In fact, he was more or less freaking out about the entire situation.

"What has he done to me?" Anti-Cosmo shouted as he messed his hair up in frustration, "He's made me a complete idiot! I don't even know what to do about it, I'm just too dumb!"

It was painfully true. As Anti-Cosmo had been so used to planning quick routes to success all this time, his broken down intelligence had taken away his trademark ability to think on the spot. It was agonising as he felt completely lost in the situation. He desperately tried to think of something, anything smart that would help them out at that moment, but he grew all the more frustrated as nothing seemed to come up. His mind was blank, and his fear was increasing.

"Calm down Anti-Cosmo, we'll think of something." Timmy said in an attempt to soothe the situation, but Anti-Cosmo was just too worked up.

"I can't calm down! I should be thinking of ways to get us out of this mess!" Anti-Cosmo yelled down to him as he wobbled in the air. He hadn't quite got the hang of his balance while he was shaking with fury. "But I can't, all because of that... that..."

"Ignorant boob?" Wanda chimed in.

"Yes, damn! I can't even think of ways to insult him, damn him!"

Anti-Cosmo fell completely to his despair. He felt stripped of everything he took complete pride in. He couldn't find it within him to return to his cool composure because of how hopeless the situation looked to him. He hated how it felt to lose control of everything and no longer have the ability to take it back. He hated the feeling of not knowing, the feeling of losing his identity.

He fell to the floor when he lost the will to keep himself in the air any longer. Wanda quickly glanced over to Timmy, and pursed her lips together as if she baited him on to say something.

"Cheer up, dude," Timmy said softly, careful to approach him as he was met with his melancholy gaze, "We'll think of something and get you back to normal in no time, you'll see."

"I'd like to have faith in you, um, godchild," Anti-Cosmo said uncomfortably when he realised that he hadn't learnt of the name of Cosmo and Wanda's godchild yet, "but how can I know for sure that you can do this?"

"Duh, we have Wanda." Timmy waved his hand over to her as she floated nearby. "She's the really smart one, and I'm the dangerously reckless one that will do anything anyone dares me to as long as it's fun!"

"Timmy..." Wanda lightly scolded him with a roll of her eyes, but felt humble pride pulling her lips into a smile as Timmy complimented her. "Anyway, we'll think of something, so don't you worry."

"Timmy, Wanda..." Anti-Cosmo felt a little wave of relief over him after hearing these comforting words, feeling hopeful as they looked back at him with sincere concern in their eyes, and Anti-Cosmo could even feel tempted into a smile.

But he refused. His sadness was too great and he wasn't enjoying a single moment of this.

Wanda had only raised an eyebrow at him. It was a little weird watching Anti-Cosmo freak out, almost exactly as Cosmo would, like when he messed up his hair and his voice became high pitched and hurried. He had occasionally looked to Wanda for possible answers or something that would save the situation, also as Cosmo often would, and he flew around quickly with energy and panic. Timmy also noticed how similar he was acting like Cosmo, but not as much as Wanda was. She was at first only observing this behaviour, until she started to really resemble the way he acted to the way her husband would.

But now, they could only see a depleted broken man sitting solemnly on the ground, gazing off into space as his melancholy state had sent him into deep thought. Well, as deep as he could possibly go.

It felt like he wandering a vast empty plane in his mind, desperately searching for some kind of life, but it was a futile attempt. It was an unfamiliar feeling he did not want to become accustomed to.

His mind wandered to his wife, Anti-Wanda, and recalled how she looked just after the incident of losing his intelligence.

He closed his eyes to picture his beautiful wife smiling next to him, curled up against him on the sofa as they silently took in the pleasure of each other's company. He remembered the way she'd rest her head near the base of his chest so she could feel the slow pumping of his heart. He watched her situate herself on his lap, resting her long legs over his, and tucking her hand underneath her chin as if she placed her palm directly over his heart.

Then he remembered that strike of lightning. The dizzying few moments of uncertainty and confusion as he tried his best to regain himself. Anti-Wanda looked to him like a frightened child, far from the woman he was sitting next to moments before.

That expression on her face burned into his mind until he couldn't think of anything else. He couldn't think of what to do now he was stuck with Wanda and Timmy, he couldn't think of the inevitable delay in world conquest, and he refused to acknowledge the fact that Cosmo was with his wife at that moment. He could only think of her face, contorted with fear.

_Anti-Wanda... what are you doing right now?_

Wanda kept her eyes on Anti-Cosmo all this time. She silently watched him and felt nothing but sympathy for him. She kept thinking to herself that it was technically their fault that they unintentionally dragged him into this, and although he was an evil person with cruel plans for world domination, Wanda didn't feel like he deserved this. He hadn't done anything to them - this time anyway - and he looked completely and emotionally drained.

Wanda felt an urge to protect him until this whole situation was sorted out. She felt a large responsibility over his well-being. Even though she knew that what may happen to him could possibly have an impact on Cosmo too, Wanda couldn't forgive herself if she let anything terrible happen to Anti-Cosmo. Her protective nature over Cosmo wouldn't allow it.

"Wanda, is there anything we can do for now?" Timmy asked her as he pulled her gaze away from him for a moment, before returning there again to be met with Anti-Cosmo's doleful eyes, now looking desperately towards her.

The way he looked at her was like a lost puppy, completely depending on her for the right answers and her guidance. It was incredibly eerie and she was almost disturbed by how much he was starting to become like Cosmo.

"Well, we can't really do anything until tomorrow." Wanda told them hesitantly, "We can clear up this misunderstanding with Jorgen, but for now we have to obey his house arrest rules. If we interfere now, we'll only have to wait longer to sort this mess out."

"So I'm stuck here with you two until tomorrow?" Anti-Cosmo said in undeniable shock.

"Um, well yes." Wanda strained to reply.

Timmy and Wanda expected another explosive freak out from Anti-Cosmo, followed by a string of unintelligible words and curses towards them, but they were surprised when he only clicked his tongue and shrugged at the situation.

"I guess if we can't do anything right now, there's no point in worrying about it."

Wanda and Timmy were stunned.

_Did Anti-Cosmo just make a rational decision?_

They were almost shocked to the core by this complete turn around. It was as if he had turned off a switch in him that turned off his panic mode. Anti-Cosmo seemed to be... relaxed.

"Are you sure?" Wanda asked him wearily as she moved very carefully closer to him, "I mean, I'd understand if you didn't want to be around us while we wait until tomorrow. We can meet back here in the morning."

"Do you think that would be the best thing to do?" Anti-Cosmo looked to her for the answers.

She bit her tongue. Her eyes growing wider as he looked at her for the right answers like Cosmo would. He seemed entirely dependent on her now, and Wanda felt completely certain that she had to be responsible for him now.

"Well, I don't think letting you wander off on your own would be a good idea. You should... stick with us..."

Wanda was reluctant, as she was unsure whether sticking around with Anti-Cosmo was going to be a wise thing to do.

"Okay, I trust you." Anti-Cosmo said with a smile, and put all of his confidence in her.

Wanda turned away quickly from him as she felt her cheeks beginning to burn. Wanda thought as she tried to calm down her heart,

_This is definitely an unwise thing to do._

"Since we're stuck here together anyway, what do you guys want to do?" Anti-Cosmo asked them as he regained the ability to lift himself back into the air.

Wanda and Timmy were almost speechless. He was even half-heartedly smiling at the whole thing, as if nothing could get him down at this point. The way he brushed it aside and looked at the bright side of things was something Cosmo would do exactly. Wanda glanced away from him for a moment to recollect her thoughts before looking over to Timmy. He looked equally confused, but shared Wanda's notions that Anti-Cosmo was acting more like Cosmo by the minute. Then, Timmy hesitantly decided to go along with this new sunny attitude of his.

"We could... um... go skiing?" Timmy suggested as he said the first fun thing that popped up in his mind, and looked at them both for approval. Wanda brightened up immediately, happy to change the subject to something else.

"Good idea, sport. Let's keep our minds off of things with some fun!" Wanda said excitedly and quickly waved her wand to poof them there.

Immediately, they were transported to the top of an gigantic snowy mountain dressed in skiing gear. Timmy almost doubled over from the sudden change of temperatures as well as the air pressure around him. Wanda quickly and skillfully got behind him, grabbing on to his shoulders protectively before he hurt himself.

Anti-Cosmo was also hesitant at first, looking down the long ski slope and was suddenly unsure of himself once he was in the position to go down.

Timmy leaned over to him with a mischievous smile, "Want to race, Cosmo? I mean, Anti-Cosmo?" He brushed aside that accidental mishap with another taunt, "Not scared, are you?"

Anti-Cosmo furrowed his eyebrows as his annoyance rose, as his quick temper was getting the better of him now he didn't have the mental capacity to keep his head level in his usual cool composure. But then, as soon as it came, his temper melted away as he also didn't think to dwell on it for too long. It was as if he was experiencing fleeting feelings as fast as he recognised them. Thankfully, he didn't dwell on this either.

"Oh, what the hell. Let's do this!"

As quick as he said this, he shot himself down the slope before the others had a chance to blink. He raced as fast as he could, and flapped his wings to give himself a little boost. Wanda and Timmy were caught off guard by his sudden enthusiasm. He seemed so energetic and... fun!

They immediately shot down after him while shouting in excitement, as they went along with the thrill of racing down the mountain with the wind hitting them hard.

"This is fun," Anti-Cosmo shouted to them, "Y'know ever since I got a lot dumber, things seem a lot, well... lighter."

"That's probably because you don't have as many things to think about now," Wanda shouted in reply over the sound of them rushing down the hill, "With less things to think about, you worry less. Ignorance is bliss, you know?"

"Yeah, you're right." Anti-Cosmo beamed, and picked up speed as he laughed, "This is awesome!"

Timmy and Wanda watched him as he radiated with happiness, like a kid in the snow letting go of all their worries and thoughts and just going with the flow, fully immersing himself in the enjoyment of skiing. Timmy was glad, after just meeting this anti-fairy who looked pretty miserable because of the wish he made, he was happy Anti-Cosmo could get something positive out of this whole experience.

That was until Anti-Cosmo was so caught up in enjoying the slide downhill, he completely missed the flurry of trees approaching them and hit face first into the trunk of one of them. The snow covering the branches were shook from the impact and covered him whole with snow. Wanda and Timmy raced over to him.

"Are you alright, Anti-Cosmo?" Wanda asked worriedly.

His head emerged from the snowy rubble and shook the snow from his hair. He looked confused at first like he was just realising what had just happened, then burst out into a fit of laughter at the whole thing. The strange thing was that just as he had started to laugh at himself, Wanda was laughing exactly with him. Timmy would've joined in if he hadn't noticed this small detail. It was similar to how Cosmo and Wanda would act together whenever Cosmo would land himself into trouble, they would laugh it off together because that was their sense of humour.

He wearily helped Anti-Cosmo on to his feet, and glanced to Wanda for a moment as they raced down the hill again. This time Timmy lagged behind a little to quietly observe Wanda from afar. He began to notice more and more how when Anti-Cosmo was acting goofy or expressing how much fun he was having, he'd find Wanda's face brightening up with a smile. Her silent and somewhat resilient behaviour from earlier was completely lost on her now.

And Timmy would find Wanda looking at Anti-Cosmo all the more. Whenever he'd act funny, she would always laugh. Eventually, Wanda paid attention to him more than actually skiing. Timmy's gut told him to be worried. Perhaps Anti-Cosmo was acting too much like Cosmo for his liking.

...

While this was occurring, Anti-Wanda was watching Cosmo busy himself with planning and familiarising himself with all their blueprints and machinery as if he had built them himself. She'd notice little things that Cosmo would do whilst in the process of plotting, like furrowing his eyebrows in concentration and wiping away the perspiration from his forehead with the back of his hand. He'd often sigh whenever he wanted to take a step back from thinking and working for too long, and restarted his train of thought for a moment to reflect on his work. Each trait that Anti-Wanda would notice and note down in her mind, she resembled them all to something that her husband Anti-Cosmo would do too.

Anti-Wanda would find herself rubbing her eyes in disbelief and had to constantly remind herself that this man was not her husband, but her mind would often wander to the point of admiring him. She surprised herself as she did. He was just so familiar to Anti-Cosmo in the way he would act.

He'd sometimes catch her staring at him from across the room and she would quickly look away with embarrassment. She didn't quite grasp what was coming over her, but she couldn't deny the way her heart would race whenever she saw him act similarly to her husband. She only knew Cosmo as a goofy imbecile and nothing else before this, so when she watched him busy himself with blueprints, and nodding his head so often in thought as he understood all the technical segments of his plans, Anti-Wanda could barely be able to tell them apart. He just reminded her so much of Anti-Cosmo, it was like she wasn't even looking at someone else and he really was her smart husband working as usual on their plans to conquer.

"Anti-Wanda, I need your help for a moment." Cosmo called her over. She hesitantly moved over to her side, as he was careful not to look at him for too long.

But she couldn't help it. When he looked down at her, his hair messy with dirt and perspiration from working so hard, his eyes sharp and all-business as he gazed down at her, she was looking into the eyes of her husband. She was frozen, as if she was caught in his gaze. It was a surreal feeling to look at the man she loved and then realise that he wasn't really there.

"Are you alright? You look a little flushed." Cosmo said as he placed the back of his hand on her forehead without warning.

Anti-Wanda felt a shock run through her as she felt the contact of his skin against hers, and felt her breath hitch in her throat as her head flushed into an even deeper shade of red than before. She flinched away from him, and forced herself to rip away from his touch and look away from him in embarrassment.

Cosmo's eyes widened in surprise by her sudden distance from him.

"Stop it." Anti-Wanda could barely sound out as she refused to look him in the eye anymore. She couldn't slow down her heart or stop her head from feeling hot, it was getting too much for her.

"Stop what?" Cosmo asked her with genuine confusion, and moved closer towards her.

Anti-Wanda stepped back a little, and turned away from him even more to hide her expression.

"Stop that." She said more sharply.

"I don't understand, stop what?"

Cosmo was more authoritative and demanding, a quality that made it all the more difficult to quit all the comparisons she was making between him and her husband.

"Stop acting like him."

Finally, it hit Cosmo.

He understood why she was acting this way. She was forcefully building a wall between them before things got even more complicated between them. He was frozen in shock at the sheer idea of it all, the idea that Anti-Wanda was having trouble differentiating between him and her husband. But if that was truly what was happening with her, Cosmo realised the best thing to do was leave her be. He didn't want to mess things up any more than he already had.

So, he turned away from her and casually walked back towards his work. And as Cosmo left her, he quietly said,

"It doesn't matter, I can do it myself."

Anti-Wanda turned back to him as she watched him crouch back down over the piles of papers that were strewn around the room. She felt her heart clench within her as she looked at him with longing, and finally acknowledged that this was dangerous territory. She quickly fled back to the sofa.

The sofa... where Anti-Cosmo had been only earlier that day. Where Anti-Cosmo took her in his arms and told her all the sweet things she loved to hear from him. How he didn't want her to feel anything less than his beloved wife, and how he wanted her to be happy no matter what.

Anti-Wanda slumped down into the sofa, feeling confused and conflicted with herself and her own feelings. And the more Cosmo would catch her looking over to him, the more worried he was becoming. He was aware that she was paying close attention to him, whether she knew it or not, and decided it was best to keep her at arm's length.

Cosmo had theorised that it was because he was smart and resembled Anti-Cosmo's looks, she was beginning to familiarise her feelings for her husband with him, the man who looks and acts just like him. It was an unfortunate circumstance that no doubt Anti-Cosmo would not appreciate in the least if he ever found out, and so Cosmo knew he had to hurry and figure out a way to get them out of this mess, confirming now that it _really_ wasn't a good idea to keep his intelligence.

Suddenly, a dreadful thought passed through his mind.

Wanda was with Anti-Cosmo at that moment. And now, Anti-Cosmo was an incredibly stupid man who would look and act just like him. If Anti-Wanda was having these feelings for him because of how similar he acted like her husband, would Wanda start to have feelings for Anti-Cosmo?

Cosmo shook his head erratically and threw himself in more work. He fully intended to distract himself from these worrying thoughts.

Perhaps, he further theorised, Anti-Wanda hadn't thought this through because she was a little dense and naive, and it would be easy for her to mistake anyone, or anything, with her husband. Hopefully this meant Wanda would do the smart thing to do and keep herself away from Anti-Cosmo to prevent herself from comparing him to her husband. Perhaps this way she won't develop any feelings for him.

He took comfort in these facts and trusted his wife, with only a small slither of doubt at the back of his mind about any negative outcomes this situation may bring.

Finally, after several grueling hours of single-handedly constructing his plans together, Cosmo had completed a teleportation device that would get them out of the castle and teleport them to anywhere on Earth with a cloak that would prevent Jorgen from tracking them outside of the castle. Cosmo felt somewhat triumphant from completing something that Anti-Cosmo had worked on, and fully embraced the idea of taking full credit for this incredible invention.

He stepped back from the machine and admired his work while Anti-Wanda wandered by his side to inspect the machine further. She placed a finger to her chin and tilted her head at it. It looked like a small mechanical stage for them to stand on with a door instead of a pair of curtains. The body was surrounded by even bigger machinery, however Anti-Wanda wasn't interested unless they had colourful, flashing buttons on them.

"Marvellous, isn't it?" Cosmo asked her with pride and placed a pencil idly behind his ear, "With this device, we'll be able to send our physical bodies to anywhere on Earth without any detection."

Cosmo stepped on the platform with Anti-Wanda close behind him. She hesitated on the ground, and looked towards the floor bashfully and fidgeted with her thumbs. Cosmo could see a light blush forming on her cheeks, to which he sighed with depletion. He really was at a loss on what to do with her, knowing only that time wasn't exactly on their hands and he worried about how much longer Wanda was spending with Anti-Cosmo.

"Come on the platform, we'll have this sorted out faster if you come along with me." Cosmo said as he stretched a hand out to her.

Suddenly, he retreated his hand away from her, as he knew that was not the best decision to make at this time. Instead, he coughed awkwardly into his hand as Anti-Wanda nervously climbed up on her own to join him by his side.

She looked very nervous now that he could see her in a better light. She was constantly fidgeting, her eyes were frantically darting around the device and he could even see her hands were shivering a little. Cosmo had to calm her down before he turned it on, so he did the only thing that he could think of that would possibly help her out.

He placed a careful hand on top of her head, causing her to jump a little, and ruffled her hair playfully. Anti-Wanda looked up to him in confusion, and was met with a sympathetic smile.

"Don't worry, we'll get there and back in one piece. Then, hopefully, we'll have this whole mess sorted out by the time Jorgen ever finds out."

Anti-Wanda beamed at him after hearing these comforting words, and felt even more humbled by the way he ruffled her hair as she had done for him earlier.

Then she stepped a little aside from him, and refused to look at him the way she'd look towards her husband. She was beginning to scare herself with how attached she was becoming to Cosmo and how more often she would mistake him for her husband. However, she was trying her best to stop falling for these tricks her mind would play on her just because of how similar the two fairies seemed to be.

So, she planted her feet firmly to the ground and rested her eyes in the opposite direction of him. She felt the air getting hotter as she felt his warm body temperature so near to her, and the familiar feeling of having Anti-Cosmo was still lingering, but she refused to give in.

_It's not him..._

_It's not him..._

_It's..._

Cosmo finally flipped the switch and their bodies began to materialise.

…

Timmy shivered as he sat by the fireside of an empty ski lodge they had found nearby. Thankfully it was still habitable for Timmy to warm himself up by the fireside and relax with a cup of hot chocolate lovingly made by Wanda.

Anti-Cosmo had found a bar on the far end of the lodge. It seemed recently abandoned as the lodge furniture was collecting dust, but the alcohol stored in the cellar seemed matured and tempting. He had just come back the cellar to find Wanda sitting at the bar, and he was immediately met with an accusing look from Wanda and an arched eyebrow.

"Oh, one glass of cognac won't hurt." He said somewhat nervously under her condescending gaze as he walked over to the bar to find where the glasses were kept.

"Yeah, right," Wanda said with amusement, "I'm not sure I trust your sense of judgement, especially after all that's happened so far."

"Hey, you can totally trust me." He replied defensively, just as he stumbled over the cellar door that he forgot to close. Wanda smiled smugly as Anti-Cosmo turned back to her, "Do you want some?"

"Alright. But I'll have a small glass, I haven't drank in a long time." She said with slight longing in her tone of voice.

"Is having a godchild and a husband for a child that much of a handful for you?" Anti-Cosmo asked somewhat resentfully as he poured her a glass, to which she snatched it from his grasp in annoyance.

"They're not handfuls. I just... don't fancy myself much of a drinker."

"After a day like today, I may take that up as a profession." Anti-Cosmo said bitterly as he slumped down on a bar stool next to her, then leant back on the bar as he gazed across the room towards Timmy relaxed by the fire. "Is it not hard for you, then?"

"What do you mean?" Wanda said, a little more somber this time.

"Being with someone like Cosmo and looking after a child at the same time, isn't it hard on you?"

Wanda inspected him carefully as she said this, noticing how serious his tone of voice had suddenly become. He looked to her for so much and depended on her for all the answers. It was painfully similar to Cosmo whenever he wanted to know the answer to something he felt important. He made her feel as if her word was the most important in the world, and then she felt as if she mattered. That's all she asked for before she met Cosmo, to feel as if she belonged to the world. And he did that just as well. He made her feel like she completely belonged to him.

So as Anti-Cosmo gazed at her with those same lost and longing eyes, she thought for a moment that she was looking into the eyes of the man she loved.

She shook her head immediately.

"Yes, well no! Actually..." Wanda's trembling voice trailed off as she avoided looking him in the eye. "It can be difficult sometimes. The children can be so temperamental, and Cosmo doesn't always take my side with some of the more reckless wishes, but at the end of the day I believe it's all worth it."

"It is worth it. You should remember that on the bad days." Anti-Cosmo agreed as he sat against the back of his stool. "I'd like a child with Anti-Wanda one day."

"But you know it's not allowed..."

Wanda's voice trailed off again as she realised that she had only stated something they both knew was totally obvious. She felt immediately guilty, and bravely looked back to him to see his eyes were glistening and watery, then felt her breath catch in her throat.

"I'm sorry." She said softly, "I guess I didn't realise just why you were so intent on wanting the anti-fairies looking after human children... like we can."

"It would be fun to have godchildren." Anti-Cosmo breathed with a smile, and imagined with fondness what it would be like, "I'd grant all their evil little wishes. Together we would cause mass chaos throughout the entire world, all through the minds of corrupted little kids!"

Wanda pursed her lips together into a forced smile, her eyebrows furrowing upwards as she remembered why it wasn't a good idea to give human children anti-fairies. However, she refused to comment on this as Anti-Cosmo looked less than enthusiastic and more mellow, still with a melancholic smile on his face.

"And I'd have kids with Anti-Wanda. She'd make a good mother, our kids would have loved her..."

There was a short somber pause between them. Anti-Cosmo had rested his elbows back against the bar behind him as he threw his head back, and looked vacantly up towards the ceiling. His lips parted a little, as if he wanted to say something, but he hesitated as he stared off into space with the thought of extending his family with Anti-Wanda on his mind.

_Can a simple man still dream?_

"I think she would have made a good parent." Wanda said softly, and suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts.

"How can you know that?" Anti-Cosmo asked her with intense curiousity.

Anti-Cosmo was almost thrown off by the way that Wanda looked then, as if she had reminisced into parts of her past that she didn't enjoy bringing up. But it was the determination mixed with sadness that enveloped her expression that made Anti-Cosmo all the more interested.

"There was a time just before I took my first godparenting job with Cosmo when I thought I would have turned out to be a terrible godmother. Cosmo was just so good with kids, and I guess it was pretty easy to be seeing how he practically is a kid himself, but I always worried that they would prefer him so much more to me."

She took a deep breath as she turned to her side, and let her finger trace the rim of her untouched glass of cognac.

"Then one day it finally happened. I remember it as clear as day. One of our godchildren told me to my face that I was no fun, that she wished that I wasn't her godmother, and she would've preferred having Cosmo around instead of me."

Anti-Cosmo audibly took in a breath of surprise. He felt so much sympathy for her, especially by the way she told him this, and pressed his lips together to stay silent and let her continue. Wanda took a moment to turn around to face the bar and put down her drink, then she leant against the side and placed her palm on her cheek.

"Even though Cosmo made sure to include me in all our activities with her, it still really hurt. I remember one night waking up in tears..."

She suddenly surprised herself by how honest she was becoming, and glanced over to Anti-Cosmo with embarrassment before turning away from him again with burning red cheeks. She didn't like revealing anything too intimate to Anti-Cosmo, or anyone for that matter. She liked her image as a strong, capable woman too much.

"Well, I was upset." She cleared her throat quickly before continuing, "Anyway, I remember waking up and telling Cosmo how I was afraid of doing a horrible job as a godmother, and he told me something I'll never forget."

"What was that?"

She moved herself up from the bar, and looked directly back at Anti-Cosmo. He curiously gazed at her in return. Then Wanda continued softly,

"He told me that he was always afraid. He never felt like he was doing anything right, never felt confident enough to truly admit to himself that he was a good godfather, despite all of our godchildren favouring him the most."

"He really is an idiot." Anti-Cosmo laughed a little as he placed his empty glass of cognac on the bar behind him.

"He is, but he's gentle and kind. And although he is dangerous and reckless, he acts on his love." She smiled as she reminisced to herself with a hand to her warm cheek, "He has a certain sense to act when it feels right. He may not say it much, and he may even say hurtful things to me in spite, but I know that there are times when he shows me just how much he cares for me and the kids. And, my, how it _shows_. It... it makes all the chaotic moments worth all the pain."

"Sounds like a certain idiot I know." Anti-Cosmo said with a smirk. "It seems that's one thing you and I have in common."

"When you're smart enough to see through all the illusions and all the lies, is it any wonder that we're drawn to something as genuine as a fool's love?"

Anti-Cosmo smiled widely. Although he hadn't the capacity to say it himself, he was still able to understand what she was saying completely.

And suddenly, they felt as if a mutual understanding was set between them. They really were no different from each other after all. And when it came to love, they wanted nothing but the real thing. As they sat their in silence, they felt comfortable with themselves and with each other. It was as if they accepted a part of themselves after understanding that someone else felt that way as well. It was a refreshing feeling, a feeling that they both took delight in.

Wanda breathed contentedly as she saw Timmy dozing off at the far end of the resort.

"So, did you really enjoy skiing today?" She asked Anti-Cosmo, more quietly than before so she wouldn't disturb Timmy.

"Yeah, I did." Then he turned to grin to her, "I think I'll claim all the ski resorts in the world once I become its ruler."

"Ugh, you're terrible." Wanda said with a disheartened sigh and nudged him with her elbow.

Anti-Cosmo laughed whole-heartedly at her as she did this, and she felt herself smile in return. He had lightened up so much since she had first met him, knowing Anti-Cosmo only as the evil counterpart of her husband. However, the more she spent time with him as he was temporarily simple minded, the more she was reminded of Cosmo. She couldn't help comparing them, they were so alike in looks and now in personality.

And as she looked over to him as he laughed, a sort of laugh that you make when you let go of all your thoughts and immerse yourself in the hilarity of it all, a sort of laugh that Cosmo would make every single day, she felt her heart bursting at the seams with longing.

She promptly turned herself away from him, although his laughter was still echoing in her ears as she felt her whole head light up in a deep shade of red, and left the glass of cognac behind her remain untouched.

She was afraid that she may end up doing something she may regret if she touched a single drop.

…


	4. Act Four

…

_Act Four:_ The Crisis

...

Cosmo's transportation device had successfully materialised in the middle of Timmy's bedroom, just as Cosmo had precisely calculated. He opened the door with caution, and looked around for any signs of human life before striding out with pride.

"Perfect, it's worked." Cosmo said triumphantly, and his pride swole before turning back to Anti-Wanda who timidly wandered after him, "Hopefully this means we've evaded Jorgen's detection. If we haven't, I've invented this just in case..."

Cosmo pulled out a small gadget from his pocket and showed it to Anti-Wanda. She inspected it carefully in his grasp, and noted a small screen on the base that resembled something like a radar with a pulsating needle in the middle.

"This should cloak our magical auras for the time being as long as we stay a few feet close to this device. The bad news is that I've only had time to make just one. So this means you should, um, stay close to me... for now."

"O-okay." Anti-Wanda stuttered, suddenly feeling embarrassed by this concept, but felt no reason why she shouldn't take a step closer to him.

Cosmo noticed her sudden movement towards him, and he froze instinctively. She was so forward and compliant, very unlike his wife Wanda who would usually think before she acts. Anti-Wanda didn't think at all, and usually it would be Cosmo to pull the first move whenever they decided to become intimate. Wanda was more the reserved type, as she usually saved her affections for later where no one else but Cosmo could see them. She felt privacy was a very important thing between couples, and Cosmo was fine by this. He even felt as if this made all the intimate moments more special this way. So as these roles seemed to have flipped around between him and Anti-Wanda, Cosmo stood stiff as a board with bewilderment.

In any case, he knew this was very wrong and reckless. It was a strange experience to acknowledge that someone other than Wanda was becoming fond of him, and his new intelligence made him react to it more strongly than he would have if he was his dim-witted self. At least he knew why Anti-Wanda was acting so strange around him. Even so, Cosmo felt that he was completely devoted to Wanda, so he was determined to make sure Anti-Wanda didn't get the wrong idea.

He gripped tight on to the cloaking device as he kept a straight face, as he was determined to remain as professional as possible. Little did he know, the more he remained silent and strong-willed, the more Anti-Wanda could feel herself slowly slipping away the barrier she kept from differentiating him with her husband. Although it was a completely untrustworthy and stupid thing for her to do, no matter how distant Cosmo could be towards her, she felt herself falling for the temptation of breaking all the boundaries.

To her, Cosmo's face began to disappear, and only the concept of his new acquired personality remained behind for Anti-Wanda to fall for.

"Anti-Wanda, we should search the place. Stay close."

"Alright." She said quietly, entranced by his perseverance.

Cosmo suddenly went as rigid as he could possibly be when he felt her arms slide around his torso.

She used Cosmo's excuse to 'stay close' to get as physically close to him as possible, and made her move immediately. She buried her head on to his chest like she had done with Anti-Cosmo earlier that day on the sofa. She desperately wanted to feel that again, even if that meant becoming close to the enemy, as long as she could recreate that peaceful paradise she experienced only hours ago.

But something was off. _Very_ off.

For the few moments that she laid her head against Cosmo's chest, she felt nothing special. Nothing out of the ordinary was felt through her, and nothing of significance had happened to him either. They were just completely still, somewhat awkwardly standing in the middle of Timmy's room, with no substantial change between them at all.

Anti-Wanda could hear his heartbeat against her ear. It was slow and steady, his breathing was completely normal and her arms were stiff as a board around him as if they didn't truly belong there.

Finally after a few moments of waiting to see if this changed, she let go of him. She let her arms fall back down to her sides in defeat, and wondered why he hadn't scolded her or said anything to her. She knew that this move on him was completely irresponsible move, so she wondered... why was he so calm?

She stepped back to look up towards him, then she became surprised at him gazing back at her, as if he understood the internal torment she was going through.

"Anti-Wanda, I want to you listen to me now and please take this as seriously as you possibly can," Cosmo began, and placed his hands tenderly over her shoulders, "I..."

"You better take those hands off my wife right now, dammit."

They jumped out of their skins as they heard a dark and audibly furious voice from the distance. As Cosmo's hands flew up into the air as if he'd just burnt his palms from his contact with Anti-Wanda, they both turned to their sides to see the seething anti-fairy floating in the doorway of Timmy's room, alongside a rather worried looking Wanda with her hands clasped tightly together.

Cosmo looked immediately flustered as he shot looks between the anti-fairies and to his wife, and his mouth gaped open as if words tumbled off of his tongue,

"This isn't what it looks like..."

"Like we haven't heard that tired old excuse before, Cosmo!" Anti-Cosmo spoke as if poison was dripping over each word.

He had rushed over to come between them in an instant, and physically split Anti-Wanda away from Cosmo by moving close to his face and sizing over him with dangerous intent burning in his eyes. Cosmo shrunk in his gaze, then held his hands up in surrender as he retreated.

"Look, I swear I wasn't trying anything. I was just telling Anti-Wanda to stay close to this cloaking radar so Jorgen wouldn't be able to track us." Cosmo desperately cried as he felt Anti-Cosmo's glare burning a hole through his head, "Believe me, that's all."

Wanda brushed her hand over Cosmo's arm all of a sudden to grab his attention. He hadn't even noticed her move to his side at all as he was preoccupied with Anti-Cosmo staring down at his face. As he turned to his wife, Cosmo tried his absolute best to avoid Anti-Cosmo's intimidating glares from his side and noted how Wanda looked more frantic than anything else. It was a rare sight to see Wanda so shell-shocked. She even looked to be shaking a little.

"Thank goodness you're here," she said softly to him to let him know she wasn't angry with him like Anti-Cosmo was, but her worried tone not lost in her voice, "I need your help to look for Timmy."

"Look for Timmy? Where is he?" Cosmo asked her quizzically.

"We don't know where he is, that's the problem!" Anti-Cosmo yelled to him impatiently, clicking his tongue as he rolled his eyes at him. "And you're supposed to be the smart one."

Wanda gently took hold of Cosmo's sleeve, and nervously looked away from him as if she was ashamed of herself as she clinged on to him for mercy. Cosmo knew now why he wasn't getting an angry earful from her after being caught in a rather questionable position with Anti-Wanda, as Wanda's fear for the well-being of Timmy was greatly occupying her mind. He ignored Anti-Cosmo completely now as he moved towards his wife and gently took her arms in his hands to comfort her.

"Can you tell me what happened to him?" Cosmo calmly asked her with patience.

Wanda took a deep breath before looking back up to him. She was still not used to the way Cosmo was acting. He was sensible, mature and looked to her as if he could take on the world for her, because he knew he could do anything if he put his mind to it. With his intelligence, he most likely could succeed. It was almost a reassuring factor to Wanda, but it wasn't the Cosmo she loved and married.

However, Timmy was her top priority at that moment and she would take whatever she could get to help their situation. She looked to him with reluctance and began,

"Ok, I'll tell you what happened..."

…

"So bored." Timmy said monotonously.

"There's not a whole lot you can do in a ski lodge, Timmy." Wanda said, and sighed at him with impatience as she sat by the fireside with him. "I figured you could use a nap after an afternoon of skiing. But it's close to dinnertime now, would you like us to wish you back home?"

"That sounds reasonable." Timmy said as he got to his feet, "I wish..."

"Now that sounds like a really boring thing to do." Anti-Cosmo suddenly interrupted.

He was busying himself with finishing off the last of the cognac at the bar, but as he cleared out the last drop of it, he began to feel a lot more light-headed than before. And so, he also felt more brave to speak aloud with the little intelligence he had left within him. As he staggered over to meet them, he was feeling rather loose and senseless.

"What do you mean?" Timmy asked him, and noticed how Anti-Cosmo was somewhat wobbling in the air as if he was struggling to keep his balance.

Wanda sighed. She was getting tired and she felt she had no more patience for Anti-Cosmo's state at that moment, as she said in a dark tone,

"Pay no attention to Lindsay Lohan over there, he's had too much to drink..."

"Can you blame me? I mean, look what I've become." Anti-Cosmo angrily slurred as he gestured to himself as he felt personally offended by Wanda's rejecting tone of voice, "I was a goddamn genius! I was so smart and so close to ultimate supremacy that I could almost taste it. It was finally within my grasp... I could've reached out and took the world all for myself... but that was until your idiot husband ruined it all. He ruined everything I had worked so hard for! Now I'm stuck with you two... and it's so damn boring here!"

"Hey, I was going to make a wish until you barged in with all your complaining!" Timmy responded, more annoyed at the fact that he was accused of being boring than anything else. Wanda completely ignored Anti-Cosmo's drunken ranting and interrupted him,

"Hold on a second, Timmy. I thought you said you were going to wish us home for dinner..."

"Wanda, please," Anti-Cosmo groaned as he began to slur more noticeably now, and his eyes sparkled with endless options running through his mind, "We can take him anywhere in the world for dinner. We could go to Japan and have sushi, or Italy for pizza, or maybe even..."

"Or he could go home to his parents so they don't worry about him." Wanda finally put her foot down, and moved towards Anti-Wanda with intimidating intent, but he only stared back at her with annoyance. "Come on, Anti-Cosmo, I think it's time we called it a day."

"That sounds positively dull." He replied while crossing his arms, then glared accusingly at her, "Weren't you the one who wanted us to liven up and have some fun earlier? If it makes you feel any better, I'll admit that you were right and I did have a good time on the ski slopes today. I've finally found a way to feel happy while I've been reduced to a bumbling fool, and then you want to end it all and _call it a day_?"

Anti-Cosmo was wobbling a lot more now in mid-air from the effects of the alcohol as well as his fury. So Timmy quietly voiced his opinion from the sidelines, as he was desperate to become the peace maker in this situation,

"I guess we still have some time to do some other fun stuff."

"Oh, no... Anti-Cosmo, be reasonable..." Wanda pleaded to him, and then hesitated before she continued to delve into the sensitive conversation they were having earlier that day.

Although she felt as if she was a little regretful from telling one of her enemies something that had hurt her deeply and emotionally, she felt as if she connected with him on a personal level because of that. Anti-Cosmo and Wanda were alike in some aspects, more alike than she previously knew, and she never expected to have bonded over their similarities as they had evidently done that day. The subject was so sensitive and private to her, but she felt glad to have been able to tell him. She'd never told it to anyone else before, so she felt it were even more special to have shared it with him and have him relate to her as he did.

"What about what I said to you earlier? Didn't you know how much it meant to me that you listened to my story? You know, about the parts when I object to Cosmo taking the godchild's side when it came to reckless wishing?"

"Oh, yes. That sob story." Anti-Cosmo spat at her in senseless, drunken fury, "So is this the part where Cosmo would usually take Timmy's side? Oh yes, I see now. You had good reason to feel like you'd do a terrible job of being a godmother. Look at you. You're so _boring_. I see why your godchildren prefer Cosmo so much more to _you_..."

Immediately, Anti-Cosmo's fury subsided as he wished he could take back his words.

Timmy clamped his mouth shut, afraid to say anything else.

And Wanda... was paralyzed.

All she could do was stare back at Anti-Cosmo with wide eyes, almost glistening from fighting back the tears. It hurt. It hurt a lot, and she fought a losing battle against her agonizing feelings that became very apparent in her expression.

She felt as if he had punched her in the stomach, or that his words had pierced her chest and shot right through her heart. Her breathing was uneven to the point where she momentarily questioned if she was breathing at all. And she felt so immobilized as if she couldn't muster the strength to move her muscles.

Wanda could only stare at him, feeling completely broken inside.

"Wait, I didn't mean that... I was just frustrated, I..."

"Right." Wanda finally said, and her voice was as quiet as a whisper.

"Wanda?" Timmy called out to her with concern.

It was eerie how reserved she had suddenly become. She turned to her side to hide her face as she refused to look either one of them in the eye, and her expression became vacant as if she could feel nothing at all. She felt numb with pain, as if she wanted to shut out what Anti-Cosmo had just said.

_"That sob story..."_

_"Terrible job as a godmother..."_

_"I see why your godchildren prefer Cosmo so much more to you..."_

Those words echoed over and over in her mind, replaying itself again and again until she could feel nothing but the hurt that it caused, as if Anti-Cosmo had said it a thousand times to her.

"Timmy, help me out here," Anti-Cosmo turned to him desperately, and took him by the shoulders before almost shaking him, "I'm just not thinking straight, right? You can vouch for me, can't you? Timmy?"

He looked back at Wanda who had not moved an inch, who was still absently staring away from them as she became reclusive in her own mind. It was a side of her that Timmy had never seen before. He expected her to be blinded by anger, as he expected her to be yelling provocative words to him until she was blue in the face as she had done so many times before with Cosmo.

But this time, she was silent. She was stiffened with heartache.

And suddenly, an idea suddenly came to Anti-Cosmo.

"I know! Timmy, you can wish to erase what just happened, right? I can do it for you, I've got my own wand. Tell me your wish, tell me to take back the last few seconds and re-do this whole conversation. What do you say, huh?"

"No way, dude," Timmy told him firmly, and swatted Anti-Cosmo's hands away from his shoulders, "I know what it's like to re-do something over again, and it doesn't change a thing. You said something hurtful that can't be taken back. Now deal with this yourself."

Anti-Cosmo felt almost at a loss for words. He backed away from Timmy, feeling abandoned by the only one left who seemed to be on his side. Then, he felt intense panic as he realised the true gravity of this situation. He was alone, deserted to his stupidity and he had to make up for the damage that he had done. He slowly turned his head to look towards Wanda for any possible answers.

She was motionless. Her eyes were almost lifeless. Anti-Cosmo couldn't rely on her anymore. He cut her off with his words, and he was completely secluded.

Timmy sighed, feeling a little sympathetic for Anti-Cosmo now he was frantically looking between the two for some kind of resolve, as if the answers to all of his problems would fall into his lap. They certainly weren't coming from his head, certainly not after a few drinks, even as he resorted to look for something, anything, that might guide him.

"Alright, man," Timmy breathed reluctantly, "I have a wish."

"Anything!" Anti-Cosmo cried, and pushed himself towards him with desperation burning in his gaze. Timmy backed off from how close he had suddenly become, as he acknowledged the full extent of Anti-Cosmo's frenzied state.

"Ok, listen to me carefully," Timmy said whilst taking note of how shaken up Anti-Cosmo seemed to be, "I wish I could go to a j..."

And suddenly, without any warning, Timmy disappeared.

…

Wanda had replayed everything as it happened to Cosmo to the best of her abilities, although she left out what Anti-Cosmo had said to her and how hurt she was feeling at the time. She only recalled the necessary details to him, and underlined the crucial factors like Timmy's last words.

"We figured that Anti-Cosmo must have made the wish before Timmy had even finished it." Wanda told him as she was shaking a lot less after she was safely in the arms of her husband. She always felt a little stronger when he was around, intelligence or not. "Now we don't know where he is."

"I see." Cosmo said insightfully as he took on every word Wanda had told him, and placed a contemplative finger to his chin as he began racking it over in his mind. He turned to Anti-Cosmo calmly, "Do you know where you might have wished him to?"

"No, I don't." He replied somewhat sorrowfully, but refused to show his weakness to Cosmo as he remained vigilant and protective of Anti-Wanda.

Wanda sighed, "We've tried all over the ski lodge and the entire area around it, but he was nowhere to be seen. We just came back to check his room, but I guess he's not here either."

Her voice trailed off as the realisation of his absence at home finally sank in, and her panic began to show once again.

"We'll find him, don't worry." Cosmo said gently after seeing how shook up she was becoming, then his fingers slightly brushed over her cheek to comfort her, "I won't rest until we do."

Wanda took a deep breath, and found it odd to have so much faith in him, yet she found so much relief in this too. Perhaps with an intelligent Cosmo on their side, they had a much better chance of finding Timmy. She felt a faint glimmer of hope within her as she gazed back to him, and weakly smiled in response to him as she held her hands over his chest. She lingered in his arms for a few moments.

Then, she felt her heart sink with insurmountable guilt.

"Hey, is this the transportation device I was working on earlier?" Anti-Cosmo shouted from a distance as he pulled the couple away from each other.

Anti-Cosmo was looking over the invention that Cosmo had managed to complete, then his anger rose as he noticed some changes that Cosmo had purposely made to claim it as his own. He noticed that Cosmo had used mostly the green colour schemed machinery to build it, and had even carved his name into the side just to spite him.

Cosmo smirked from his exasperated reaction, and proudly reveled in this rare moment to gloat over having the upper hand over Anti-Cosmo at long last.

"We don't have time for this now." Wanda ushered them back to the matter at hand, "We should search the house. If he's not in his bedroom, he's probably in another room somewhere."

"We should split up." Anti-Cosmo said immediately as he moved to Anti-Wanda's side, and protectively took her hand, "You two go search downstairs while we search up here... away from Cosmo."

"No, wait!" Wanda interrupted, catching them all by surprise.

Cosmo looked at her confusedly, and his accusing gaze had Wanda stumble over her words as she realised just how hesitant she sounded by the idea of being split up from Anti-Cosmo.

"I... I mean, I don't think that's a very good idea," Wanda attempted to save herself, "I think it'd be best if we stay together as a group. It's not wise to let Anti-Cosmo wander off on his own in the state that he's in."

Cosmo squared his eyes to her, and noticed how she seemed to perspire nervously the more he inspected her behaviour.

"We don't have much of a choice anyway," Cosmo told her boldly while the suspicious tone in his voice was still apparent, "If Anti-Wanda and I wander too far away from this cloaking device, Jorgen might be able to detect us and he'll take us back to the Anti-Fairies' castle. Then who knows how long it will take to clear up this mess."

"Jorgen won't let us see him until tomorrow morning," Wanda thought to herself and became increasingly worried the more she realised, "If he catches us now, he'll probably extend our punishment and it'll be almost impossible to get to him for a very long time. And then you might be stuck as you are right now, Cosmo."

"But we have to find Timmy, no matter what." Cosmo took his wife and looked at her with intense determination, "I will find him and I will make things right. I promise."

Wanda gazed back to him, and found herself looking past how odd this situation turned out to be. She admired him all the more for being so responsible at long last. Then she sighed into him as she felt the pressure ease off of her for a while. Whenever they were in a tight spot, the pressure was usually on Wanda to fix everything that either Timmy or Cosmo had created, so it was a nice change when the pressure was shared equally between them this time. It was even sort of relieving.

Wanda was pulled away from her thoughts when Anti-Cosmo approached him without breaking his eyes away from him.

"Fine, but let me tell you something that you better not take lightly," Anti-Cosmo warned as he took a handful of Cosmo's shirt in his fist, and brought his face dangerously close to his to see his expression completely darkened with serious fury, "You touch my wife again, and you'll find it difficult to be able to touch anything ever again after what I do to you."

He shoved Cosmo away from him, and Wanda caught him in mid-air to help him balance before glaring back at Anti-Cosmo. He had only stepped back to stand beside Anti-Wanda, and surprised her by protectively putting his arm around her shoulders and bringing her close to him. She found herself smile at her husband, as she always loved when he became intimidating and all-powerful over his rivals. Her evil heart raced beside him as she idly rested her head on to his side.

And, for a moment, that peacefulness she felt on the sofa with him earlier that day had come back to her. She could hear his heart skipping a beat as she moved herself closer to her, and noticed how she had an effect on him.

Anti-Wanda grinned, hopeful that not all was lost between them after all.

Meanwhile, Wanda was feeling the exact opposite.

Because there was one vital part of the flashback back at the ski lodge that she failed to mention to either one of them.

...

A few silent moments passed before Wanda or Anti-Cosmo noticed that Timmy wasn't there in the ski lodge anymore. It took Anti-Cosmo a couple takes to fully realise that. Once he had, his anxieties were at its bursting point.

_I can't take it... I can't take this farce anymore..._

He shouted unintelligible words as he gave into his hysteria at last. He couldn't take the stress of everything that had happened anymore. He lost his trust in himself, he lost his best qualities and abilities, he was forcefully separated from his dependable wife, he deeply insulted the one woman who he trusted to help him in this situation and now he's lost her godchild, who would undoubtedly land them in more trouble with Jorgen if he were to ever find out.

Anti-Cosmo just couldn't take it anymore.

He screamed. And screamed and screamed.

Wanda was snapped out of her vacant trance instantly as she heard this as if his desperate cries of frustration had ripped through her thoughts. She had to put her hurt feelings aside for the time being, although she still acknowledged that they were still there, she couldn't bare the thought of leaving someone on their own when they needed her the most. So she moved to his side immediately, and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder as she placed another gentle hand on the side of his face.

"Breathe, Anti-Cosmo. Are you alright? What's happened?" She asked firmly, and her authoritative tone of voice had taken the situation back under control. He began to calm down a little for the moment.

"I... I don't know!" He yelled as the volume of his voice was evidently out of control.

"Where's Timmy? Did he say something to you?"

Anti-Cosmo's screams suddenly stopped. He was silent, but only for a moment, as he stared into her eyes like a lost child with his glassy eyes as wide as they could go. He found it difficult to find the words to describe how lost he felt, and how afraid he was. The situation just seemed so hopeless. He was afraid to even open his mouth as he gritted his teeth shut.

It was as if he wanted to remain silent for the rest of his days... as long as he could avoid telling Wanda the awful news.

But the more she stared at him, her eyes filled with concern for him. Anti-Cosmo hoped that she would somehow have mercy on him. He staggered towards her, his mind still foggy from the alcohol as well as his fear, but he bravely admitted to her,

"He... he vanished. He's not here, and it's all my fault." He looked to the ground, his voice became a whisper, "It's my fault. It's all my fault."

"What's your fault?" She hurried him, and slowly took her hand away from his face to take a hold of his clothing. She brought him close to her in desperation. "Tell me, please, what's happened to my Timmy?!"

"I-I think I wished him away. He wished to go somewhere but I made the wish too early. I wished him away." He slumped to the ground in defeat as he realised this, "I... I don't know where he is."

Wanda went silent again. This time, instead of vacant sadness, there was visible rage building in her expression coming from within her. Anti-Cosmo could feel the tension between them rising the more she stared at him and the more her grip on his clothing had tightened. Her growing impatience of him was reaching it's limit, until she suddenly pushed him away in disgust.

Red. She could only see red. As she turned away from him to walk away, she was almost blinded from the intense ball of fury that was burning within her chest.

Anti-Cosmo stumbled backwards for a moment before looking towards her in desperation. She was heading for the exit, and her hands were clenching into fists at her sides as she opened the door to the ski lodge with a frustrated shove. Anti-Cosmo was left gawking at her from a distance.

He felt helplessness escalating within him again once she was out of sight. He could only hear the sounds of the crackling fire burning nearby, as if the sound was getting louder until they were ripping his ear drums apart. As he stared wide eyed towards the door Wanda had just walked through, the cogs in his brain were slowly churning away until the final realisation came to him at last.

_She's leaving me alone again... and I don't know what to do..._

"Wanda, wait!" Anti-Cosmo called for at last, and rushed after her as he threw himself out the door and into the cold air.

It was close to the evening now and the sun was almost completely hidden on the horizon in the distance. Everything was growing darker around them and the snow was barely glistening from the little sunlight that was blinking on to it. If it weren't for the glowing fire creating a small glint of light coming through the windows, they would've been standing in near darkness. The balcony they stood on creaked softly and whistled from the winter breeze.

And Wanda was nearby. He could just barely make her out on the other side of the balcony. She had her back to him, and her head hung low as she leant over the bannister towards the snow covered ski slopes.

Anti-Cosmo was still stumbling over his feet, the effects of the alcohol were hitting him as hard as the cold air was, so he held on to the railing before calling after Wanda once more.

"Wait, please, let me apologise..."

"Don't bother." She said simply, her voice was low and quiet, yet it was so frightening. "You've done enough."

"But if you just listen..."

"Listen to _what?"_ Wanda suddenly shouted, and turned around to him as a dimly lit figure, like a dark scorned ghost calling to him from the shadows, "Listen to you whine more about what Cosmo did to you? Or listen to another one of your clumsy wishes? What, are you going to wish me away too? Huh?!"

She stepped towards him a little but still kept herself at a distance. She couldn't stand to be near him at that moment. However, he could just make out her pink eyes becoming clear with fury at him.

"I can't _believe_ I poured my heart out to you. You know I actually believed that you understood me? I actually thought that I had finally found someone who would listen to me, relate to me and, dare I even say, _respect _me. Oh my god, I'm so _stupid."_

She swung her head to the side as if she spat the word out before returning her furious gaze back to him and continuing.

"I can't believe I trusted you. I actually trusted you enough to tell you something very personal to me. It may not have meant anything to you, but it meant a _great deal_ to me. I told you something close to my heart and I expected not to have it thrown back in my face. So how _dare_ you! How dare you take advantage of my trust like that!"

She turned to look away from him, and stared off into the distance at the blinking sunlight barely peaking over the horizon, casting the last of its light to them. Then she shot her eyes back to him with a mixture of pain, sadness and fury cast over her face.

"Or... how about I listen to you tell me more about how I am a failure as a godmother. And while we're at it, tell me how much of a failure I am as a wife." Her voice rose as she went on, "I can't look after my husband after he makes dumb decisions, I can't keep a simple-minded fool like you from getting completely inebriated and... and..."

She rose her hands as if she was surrendering to him, then she promptly dropped them in exhaustion as her voice finally descended back down to a depleted whisper,

"And I can't believe I lost Timmy..."

"Wait a minute, Wanda," Anti-Cosmo took a step towards her desperately, "I'm the one that lost Timmy, not you. You're not to blame. In fact, you're not to blame for any of this. You're blaming yourself for a burden that's not yours to bear. So... let me carry it for you."

Wanda shook her head as she suddenly found it hard to look at him in the face. His sincerity was, again, crossing the line to how Cosmo usually sounded.

"No, Anti-Cosmo..."

"I know I messed up." Anti-Cosmo took another step towards her with sincere sorrow in his voice, and looked to her with big, mournful eyes, "I know I did. I messed up big time. And I want to help you."

"I-I don't know..."

Wanda wanted to get away from him. She wanted to leave him there, sort this mess out on her own and find Timmy quickly by herself. By herself, she thought, it would be better if she was to search for him by herself, because then Anti-Cosmo wouldn't be there to hurt her anymore.

But she remained there with him. She was barely able to make out his face, but she could acknowledge his dark figure as if it were Cosmo's. She refused to move away from him, as if his figure alone was pulling her towards him and keeping her there. She couldn't find it within herself to move, and she was screaming at herself in her mind to get away from him as far as she could, but her body refused her. She knew this was bad, she knew she was in trouble, but her feet wouldn't move. Her arms wouldn't move. Her eyes wouldn't move.

Wanda could only stare up towards him, hopelessly falling under his sincere, doleful gaze.

"I'm sorry I said those hurtful things. I shouldn't have betrayed your trust like that. I'm so grateful that you told me something that meant a lot to you, and I really do feel like I understand." He said as softly as he could, "I understand you, Wanda. I know how you feel. So I didn't know what I was thinking when I said those stupid things. It was so stupid. Cruel and stupid. And I'm sorry. Please... please forgive me."

Wanda felt despair. She was confused and panicked to the point of frenzy. And as she looked towards him, as she felt just how sincere he truly was, Wanda felt her heart sink within her chest as she acknowledged how much this really meant to her.

_It means so much..._

Then, the situation seemed all too familiar, as if Anti-Cosmo had taken a page out of Cosmo's book and apologised the exact same way Cosmo would. After saying things that often hurt Wanda, like if he told her that she was fat or naggy, Cosmo would later tell her sincerely and whole-heartedly that he was sorry.

And she'd forgive him. She'd always forgive him. The way he'd pull her aside and look at her with doleful, apologetic eyes as if he was desperately clinging on to her every word was all he needed to do to have her fall to her knees for him.

It was as if she was looking into the sad eyes of her loving husband. And for a moment, with his darkened figure with the exact same form as Cosmo's, with his soft loving words that were meant just for her, with his heartbroken eyes looking desperately towards her, she momentarily mistook him truly as her husband.

_Cosmo..._

And she wasn't alone in feeling this way.

Anti-Cosmo saw the form of his wife standing in front of him. His drunken stupidity had let his judgement waver for a moment as if he really was in the presence of Anti-Wanda.

And as Wanda felt herself giving in to him, as Anti-Cosmo looked to her with desperate sadness in his eyes, they realised how every argument would end the same exact way. The boys would take their wives in their arms, as if they reached out and grabbed them like their lives depended on it, and take out all of their passion with a deep kiss that would say everything that needed to be said.

It _always_ ended that way.

And before Anti-Cosmo knew it, before he could give himself a chance to think, he instinctively grabbed on to Wanda's arm. He pulled her against his torso, held her there and locked her arm tight within his desperate grasp. He leaned down towards her.

And he kissed Wanda.

For a long time.

…


	5. Act Five

...

_Act Five: _The Pressure

_..._

It was as if minutes seemed like hours the longer they remained in each other's arms like that. Time no longer became a factor, and all that mattered was what they were doing with each other at that moment.

Anti-Cosmo had a firm grip of Wanda's wrist as he pulled her against him as he refused to let go of her for one second, and placed his other hand on the side of her face to cradle her head gently to his. He held on to her like she was the most precious thing in the world to him, but also had a tight hold on her with desperation, as he was under the impression that if he were to let go then he would lose her for good.

And she was welcoming him entirely. She placed her free hand against his chest to press her palm over his heart, and closed her eyes to give in to the sweet kiss she was waiting for. The kiss she would always take delight in after a sincerely sweet apology that Cosmo would give her.

Seconds to minutes... minutes to hours... what did it matter? All that mattered to them at that moment was the fact that they had their beloved spouses in their arms again...

Until it hit them both. _Hard._

This was wrong. This was so very, _very_ wrong.

They felt nothing between them. Their lips were shaped so differently, and this had promptly snapped them back to a cruel reality. Anti-Cosmo felt Wanda's mouth was much too small, as he was used to kissing Anti-Wanda's lips that had tucked over her misshapen teeth. Wanda immediately felt the difference between Cosmo's straight teeth against Anti-Cosmo's fangs lightly touching her bottom lip. It didn't feel right, they didn't feel like they belonged there at all, and it was terrifying her.

As they felt the physical difference and acknowledged the unchanged chemistry between the two, their eyes shot wide open in a wild surprise. They pushed each other away at the same time, and ripped themselves away from each other's arms to create a very clear distance between the two.

Wanda stumbled to the side in a dazed stupor. She grabbed a hold of the bannister beside her as she took deep breaths. She needed to take a break, she needed to keep a steady head. Wanda knew she was way too hysterical to think straight, that was the reason she kissed him in the first place, but she was panicked more than ever after realising just how senseless her actions were. She grabbed her chest as if she tried to clench her heart in her fist, as she felt even more pain at that moment than she ever had before.

Wanda felt guilty feelings take a tight hold on her, leaving her breathless with utter remorse. She didn't think she could feel any worse than she had done earlier, but fate had a way of surprising her. And as she replayed the shameful moment again and again in her mind, the more the situation became clear to her, until it was as simple as this:

She kissed Anti-Cosmo. He kissed her back.

_Oh god, what have I done?_

In a moment of sheer panic, she turned back to Anti-Cosmo with gritted teeth, and marched straight over to where he had stumbled. And as she mustered up all the energy she had left within her, Wanda suddenly and swiftly slapped him clear across the cheek with an open palm.

He fell to the ground from the impact, and hit his back hard against the wooden floor. In a drunken stupor, he managed to push himself up with his elbows and look up to Wanda with bewilderment. He was met with her saddened eyes, now with even more grief and despair that was clearly shown on her face. Her teeth were gritted together as she trembled, and she fought back the tears with all her strength left over as her hand hovered in the air.

Neither of them could say anything. The only sounds filling the air were their sharp quickening breaths. The sun set on the scene, leaving them staring at each other with distress in their eyes basked in the warm glow of the fire coming through the lodge windows.

Wanda finally put her hand down, then cautiously stepped over to him with an arched foot as if she was ready to strike at him again.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" She seethed through her teeth, her voice was trembling with emotion.

"Hold on, I am not getting all the blame for this one." Anti-Cosmo shouted back defensively as he scrambled to his feet as he squared up to her with equal fury flashing in his eyes, "You're as guilty as I am, Wanda. You kissed me too!"

"I did not!" She yelled to him, yet her face fell into a deep shade of red, "You kissed me, I had no part in this!"

"You kissed me long enough to have a part in this! If you didn't want to, then why did it take you so long to push me away?"

"I..."

"Face it, Wanda. We screwed up. Again!" Anti-Cosmo turned away from her as he felt the rage within him burst out. Then he angrily lashed out and kicked the lodge bannister beside him before grabbing hold of it to balance himself. He leant over to it to hang his head in utter shame and despair. "This just keeps getting worse and worse..."

Wanda couldn't say anything this time. She stood completely still, stiffened by her own foolish actions, and couldn't find the right words to say to him. For the first time in a long time, she was at a loss on what to do. There were so many things that had gone wrong that day, so many things to worry about and things to do. Where could she begin?

She felt like a total failure. As if all the things that Anti-Cosmo had said to her before were completely true, and she really was doing a terrible job as a godmother. And to add to this, she felt she was doing a terrible job as a wife, and even as a person.

There was a very long silence between them. Wanda was locked in her own despairing thoughts as she fell into her own quiet misery, and backed against the wall of the ski lodge. She couldn't find it within her to hold herself up anymore, her balance while floating in the air was wavering the further she was sinking into depression, as she silently battled her morals in her own mind.

Anti-Cosmo ran his hand through his hair, letting the messy strands fall over his eyes as he looked on into the distance. He didn't know what to think, he didn't know what to do. Yet Anti-Cosmo thought to himself sarcastically,

_At least that kiss seems to have sobered me up a little..._

He felt as if all the energy within him had been sucked out of him. If he wasn't holding on to the bannister, he'd have fallen to the ground and refused to get up.

But something within him told him that now wasn't the time to give up. If anything, now was the time more than ever to act. Timmy was missing, that vital piece of information hadn't left his mind yet, and Wanda was left silently despondent behind him.

Anti-Cosmo sighed. He had to face her sooner or later, and time wasn't exactly on their hands. He hesitated before moving himself away from the bannister, and slowly turned to face Wanda standing up against the lodge wall, staring vacantly away from him.

"You felt it too right?" He asked her.

Wanda flickered her eyes at him as confusion flashed over her face, as well as disgust.

"What?" She said quietly, prolonging the word as she feared what he might have meant by that.

"You felt nothing." Anti-Cosmo pressed on, "When we... you know... we both felt nothing. There wasn't anything going on between us. It meant nothing."

Wanda squared her glassy eyes to him, a little uncertain of what he was saying, but knew deep inside of her that what he was saying was true.

They simply didn't have any room left in their hearts for them, it was taken up too much by their spouses. It was made painfully clear the moment their lips touched. It was all boiled down to a matter of frenzied confusion, a moment of madness that was felt through both of them as they acted on impulse as if they were really in the presence of Cosmo and Anti-Wanda. They knew it was all just a misunderstanding, they knew it was just an unfortunate incident of acting on a maniacal whim instead of thinking logically.

Anti-Cosmo took solace in the fact that he was not only stupid enough to mistake Wanda with his wife, he was also drunk and impulsive. He found it easier to forgive himself with that in mind, knowing that it was sincerely a moment of reckless stupidity.

Wanda didn't believe this to be the case with her, as she liked to believe that she was intelligent enough to avoid mistakes as large as that in her life. So she took it a lot harder than Anti-Cosmo. She was already troubled by the problems they were facing leading up to the kiss, so after it happened she was at a complete loss for comfort.

Her eyes began to well up, uncertain if she was able to keep this up anymore.

_Cosmo... I want to see Cosmo..._

"Hey, it's going to be alright." Anti-Cosmo interrupted her, then moved cautiously towards her and stepped into a ray of light, glowing from the fire inside the lodge. His face lit up as he did this, his blue skin seemed to be radiating a warm luminosity that Wanda refused to look at.

Now she could tell the difference between him and her husband. He was a cruel anti-fairy. His physical appearance was too obvious now, and she couldn't keep her mind off the shameful kiss that she shared with him... Anti-Cosmo, the evil counterpart of her husband.

Yet he had been so gentle and understanding with her, trusting her every word throughout this entire crisis as if all their previous chaotic battles hadn't ever happened between them.

"I'm sorry I hit you." Wanda choked out suddenly, and her breath hitched in her throat as she said this.

Anti-Cosmo kept his distance from her to make sure he hadn't come close to touching her in any manner or form.

"It's alright, I guess I deserved it after the stupid things I said earlier," He said gently with an apologetic smile, then his smile fell as he hesitated to continue with his sentiments, "Look Wanda... I know that I'm no genius anymore, but I also know for a fact that all is not lost."

"How can you possibly know that?" Wanda looked at him accusingly, unconvinced that he was in any state to be making any kind of sense at that moment.

"I know because it's all too clear to me now." He replied more assertively this time, "I know this because... I'm not over-thinking things anymore."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Wanda asked impatiently.

"I... don't know how to put this in words... but I'll try. I think what I meant to say was that... I used to over-think things because I was so afraid of missing anything that might turn out to be important later. I'd think that if I go over every single tiny detail over and over again, there's no way it could possibly get screwed up later. I suppose that's why I would always be so surprised and angry every time a plan of mine would fail. But, y'know, I never really stopped to think that maybe it failed _because_ I was over-thinking everything."

He shuffled his feet awkwardly as he restarted his simple-minded line of thought.

"Right now, the only thing on my mind is to make things right. I don't feel as much pressure to make an intricately structured plan like I used to, and there's no pressure to keep thinking my plans over and worrying over the small things. Now, it seems, that simply knowing that I will stop at nothing to make things right is enough to get me going. And, perhaps, it's enough to make it through this. Then maybe everything will turn out to be alright in the end."

"That's an incredibly foolish thing to think." Wanda told him bitterly.

"Maybe." Anti-Cosmo replied simply with a pathetic smile.

She somehow managed to let out a small laugh in spite of things.

He really was a simple-minded man, but it was because he was so simple-minded that he had so much faith in himself. When everything seemed to be hopeless, he felt that he had to rely on his beliefs that everything will turn out to be alright in the end as long as he refused to give up. There was nothing else he could rely on other than his hopes. So what it all came down to was his belief that nothing would come from doing nothing, and he chose to act despite not being certain of the outcome in the end.

Wanda admired him for this, and finally managed a small smile to him. She felt thankful for his optimistic perspective.

"No one knows what'll happen in the future, Wanda, but it won't have a chance of happening if we don't do something about it."

"You're right." Wanda said incredulously, and wiped a small tear that escaped from her eye.

Anti-Cosmo finally found himself beaming, as he let this new perspective take hold of him. It was as if he was radiating with positivity now. He stepped back a little to look up to the starry sky, and he felt himself breathe out slowly, as if he had finally found peace and tranquility within himself.

"But how strange it is to feel, and have no words to reciprocate it." Anti-Cosmo lamented, "It's like I'm overflowing with words that I don't have."

"It sounds nice." Wanda said truthfully, "To be honest, I'm a little envious of you, Anti-Cosmo."

"Why's that?"

"You're looking at life so simply. You're trusting your feelings instead of your words. It's like you're seeing things as they are, and yet you're not seeing them with your eyes. I'm jealous. It's the kind of quality that I lack... and the kind of quality that I long for..."

Wanda stopped herself before she said anything further. She felt a lot more hesitant to say anything that might trigger another argument later on with him. The trust she placed in him was shattered, and she couldn't find herself to say anything more to him.

Her voice trailed off into the night, and Anti-Cosmo was on the edge of his toes to hear more, but he was disappointed when she pressed her lips tightly together. Then, as she turned away from him to get up from against the wall, she flew a small distance away from him, and remained silent. Yet she didn't move away from him anymore than a few feet. It was as if she was debating whether or not to tell him any more of her personal truths.

Her mind was becoming a confusing labyrinth of conflicting thoughts, and it was an unwelcome feeling. She felt much more at peace when she felt in control, and it was one of the reasons why she liked being with Cosmo so much. He let her take the reigns on most situations, and it kept her mind at ease.

However with Anti-Cosmo, she was forced to face the reality that not everyone and everything can be controlled. The world is a spiraling decay of nonsense that can't be tamed, no matter how much she tried. Not even with all the powerful magic in her possession, making her capable of changing the way the world works in the blink of an eye, she still wouldn't be able to control it, no matter how much she wanted to.

It was a devastating reality that she was forced to live. So, she remained silent.

"Wanda, I'm sorry for all the hurt I've caused you today." Anti-Cosmo finally said, and cautiously approached her, "I know it's going to be hard for you to trust me from now on, and I suppose it's asking a little too much of you to confide in me about anything else for today, but you shouldn't completely distance yourself away from me. I can help, if you let me."

"I'll have to give that some serious consideration." Wanda said hesitantly with her back to him, and glanced over her shoulder to him. But she refused to lift her eyes to his.

"We will find Timmy by the end of today, you'll see," determination was clear in Anti-Cosmo's voice, "although it'd be better if we searched for him together."

Wanda remained silent, as she was determined to keep a firm distant face. But, she was hesitating. And Anti-Cosmo saw it.

"Look at you. You're immortal, and yet you fret over so many things to last a thousand human lifetimes." Anti-Cosmo said softly. He was becoming more gentle again, until he finally caught her attention as she slowly turned around to him, and he smiled as he continued, "It doesn't take a smart man to know that you should let go. Discard all your fears of losing the things that matter to you the most. Don't let the fear rule your life. Take the plunge with me, Wanda. Let's enter the gates of Hell and come out in flames with Timmy by our sides."

Wanda was locked in his gentle gaze, unable to believe that she was really taking on board what he was saying to her. She breathed deeply, finally succumbing to him at long last as her thoughts were clouded with the comforting notion that Anti-Cosmo was there with her to help. And finally, she sighed in defeat.

"Okay." She said simply.

"Okay?" Anti-Cosmo's face lit up. At first, he was surprised at her reaction, until he became completely ecstatic at the prospect that Wanda wasn't angry at him or herself anymore. "Okay! Yes, it's all okay!"

"Not all of it," Wanda told him suddenly and stopped him in his tracks. She pointed an authoritative finger at him as her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, until she immediately eased herself back as her shoulders fell, and she smiled with content, "But yes, it's okay. And I commend you for making this horrible experience sound as badass as possible."

Anti-Cosmo smiled in return. He was simply happy enough to have returned back to where their relationship was before all of this happened. It was as if they were back at the bar, contented as they related to each other stories and chatted away like they were old friends. It was a satisfying feeling. They finally acknowledged that they could find someone else who they could get along well with, despite a few differentiating traits. But Wanda could look past Anti-Cosmo's evil plans for world domination, as Anti-Cosmo could look past Wanda's sense of right and wrong.

At the very core, they were two intelligent people who were in love with two completely different people. No one could understand why they did, no one knew how two complete opposites could attract and work so well together. However, they knew exactly why. And based on that, they formed a strong bond that couldn't be broken. They were good friends again, knowing and understanding each other well without having to say anything at all.

Anti-Cosmo breathed as if he felt a large weight lift itself from his shoulders, and asked her after a few short silent moments in each other's company,

"So, do you know what we should do now?"

"Well, Timmy is our top priority." Wanda said firmly, becoming very serious about the matter at hand, "We'll search for him all night, and I won't rest until he's found."

"Sounds like a plan." Anti-Cosmo replied positively, with a touch of sarcasm that hinted at his earlier opinions about over-thinking all of his strategies.

Wanda picked up on that, flashed him a dismayed smile, before they sped off into the cold, dark air of the night to search for their missing godchild.

…

Back in the present, Cosmo had taken note of Wanda's nervous disposition as they continuously did a thorough search of Timmy's house. Although his mind was focused on finding his godchild, he couldn't help glancing over at his wife whenever he could and find her peaking over at his evil counterpart anti-fairy who would also seem to gaze back at her, grinning as their eyes accidentally met each other.

Cosmo clenched his teeth with jealousy burning up inside him. At first, he had thought that Wanda was only nervous because she was concerned for the disappearance of Timmy, but the more he observed his wife at a close range he noticed that it wasn't the only thing occupying her mind.

"I don't think he's here." Anti-Wanda chimed in as she emerged from the kitchen basin, and shook her dripping wet hair from diving down the drain.

"This isn't good." Wanda said anxiously as her fears were steadily growing as the time ticked on. It was getting close to nine in the evening, and he was still nowhere to be found. There wasn't any trace of him being back at home for a long time, and the house was void of any signs of life.

Suddenly, the keys rattled in the front door, and the fairies dived into their disguises to avoid any human detection. Their hopes of it being Timmy had instantly been shot down when they revealed themselves to be Timmy's parents, walking in and smiling ear to ear with a happy-go-lucky disposition.

Mr. Turner asked his wife, "Hey, have you seen Timmy today? I haven't seen him around the house at all, and I was going to make him do some chores for me!"

Mrs. Turner shook her head at him dismissively.

"No, I assumed he was at Vicky's house today." She replied and grinned even wider at the possibility, "He sure does love his babysitter, I wonder if she's available for tonight when we go to our annual no-kids-allowed-skating-and-bowling tournament."

All of the fairies were eavesdropping on the conversation while being disguised as portraits hanging on the wall, and Anti-Cosmo whispered over to his companions to comment,

"Timmy seems to be pretty stable despite the mild neglect of his parents."

"Of course he is," Cosmo stuck up for him in irritation, "We do a pretty good job of looking after him."

"Yes, obviously." Anti-Cosmo said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "You're doing a great job... if it weren't for the fact that we can't find him anywhere."

Cosmo almost growled from how irritated he was becoming from Anti-Cosmo's presence there. He wasn't too thrilled with him before all this had happened, but even with his lack of intelligence and Cosmo's brilliant mind, he found himself becoming increasingly tired of his constant comments that were incredibly unneeded in this desperate time. Timmy's disappearance was exasperating, and Cosmo found he hadn't the patience to deal with anything that might sway him from his mission to find him.

However, Anti-Cosmo was just as equally peeved with Cosmo. He wasn't so much worried about Timmy's well-being as he was, but he was weary of Anti-Wanda's behaviour around Cosmo. She seemed to be wandering aimlessly around as they searched the house, looking off into space rather than looking around for Timmy, until her eyes would rest on Cosmo. Then she would soften her gaze, as if she was looking at something she held very dear to her, and she could even be heard audibly sigh with sadness.

Anti-Cosmo kept a close eye on his wife, and kept close to her as they had searched the house so she wasn't left alone with Cosmo. He fought the urge to ask her what had happened between them while he was absent, and refused to imagine them together alone in his castle. Now and again, images of Cosmo and Anti-Wanda would come up in his mind of them working close together on the transportation device that Anti-Cosmo worked hard on. He'd swat away these dampening thoughts in an instant, but the more he watched his wife's attention drawing over to Cosmo then the more prominent those kinds of thoughts would become.

As Timmy's parents left for the kitchen, the fairies stealthily took to their fairy forms and floated soundlessly out of the house and on to the front door step. After looking around for any signs of human life, as they found themselves enveloped completely in the darkness of the evening, they took to the skies to hover above ground and debate what to do next.

"Well, Timmy's house is out of the question." Cosmo said as he thought some more, "I suppose we have no choice but to take to the streets and search for him there."

"We should disguise ourselves as human adults. It'd be easier to get around if we just blended in as one of the crowd." Wanda suggested to him, and he nodded to confirm it.

"That's a good idea." Cosmo said with a hopeful smile, "Alright, if you will all follow me, I think I've devised a sufficient route where we can begin the search."

"And why should we follow you?" Anti-Cosmo interrupted with an arched eyebrow.

Cosmo turned around to him, animosity was growing clear in his eyes as he faced him.

"I just told you why, you idiot, I know a route that will lead us to places that Timmy usually visits." He resented Anti-Cosmo's suspicious tone of voice when Cosmo felt that he should be suspicious of _him_.

For a few short, silent moments, it felt as if the boys were at a stand-off, glaring intensely at each other as if sparks were flying between them. If looks could kill, they would be dead men by now.

"You think you know Timmy so well, don't you?" Anti-Cosmo moved dangerously closer towards Cosmo's wife, much to his displeasure, "Don't you think Wanda should have a say in this? She knows your godchild just as well as you, you know. You should let her lead the way."

"Oh, I don't know," Wanda said quietly, although she was grateful for his selfless input and her cheeks began to burn a shade of red. Cosmo noticed instantly, and silently seethed to himself as he bit his tongue to hold himself back, "Maybe Cosmo and I should lead the way together."

"That sounds perfectly reasonable to me!" Cosmo yelled at her without realising that his tone of voice was mirroring his feelings on the matter exactly.

Wanda stepped back with surprise as she felt a little insulted by his hostility all of a sudden, and Cosmo stumbled backwards as he realised this.

"I mean, sure. That sounds fine." Cosmo coughed awkwardly. Then he moved closer towards Wanda's side to force her to step her away from Anti-Cosmo.

Wanda was anxious about Cosmo's behaviour all of a sudden. She felt a little annoyed at her husband for his sudden outburst. Wanda wasn't one to be pushed around by anyone, not even her husband, and Cosmo could see how irritated she was by the way she quickly glanced away from him.

As Anti-Cosmo returned to his respective wife, he was smirking towards Cosmo. He reveled in the fact that Cosmo had slipped up with Wanda, and made it clear to him that even though he hadn't much intelligence, he could still get on Cosmo's nerves to the best of his abilities.

What Anti-Cosmo also made apparent to Cosmo was the fact that Anti-Cosmo was becoming much closer and friendlier to Wanda, and he noticed how that act of consideration towards her was incredibly unlike him before this whole incident had occurred. Cosmo was almost certain that Wanda hadn't said more than a few words to him before all this, and now she was blushing within his gaze and shooting him friendly smiles whenever they caught each other looking their way.

Cosmo felt like he was going mad with jealousy as he constantly fought the urge to grab Wanda's hand and move away from Anti-Cosmo as far as he possibly could. But he was stuck with the anti-fairies until the very end. The cloaking device Cosmo had certified this as a fact. And he knew that Wanda was no pushover, so the more he would persist on taking her away from him, the more she felt compelled to rebel against him. Cosmo always liked how headstrong and independent Wanda was, but at that moment, he was wishing that for once she could depend on him instead.

So all he could do at that time was stick close beside Wanda's side. His eyes would flicker from his surroundings over to his wife every so often, and he felt an uneasy weight pulling down his heart at the very thought of losing her over this.

_I can't lose her... not to Anti-Cosmo, not to anyone, I can't lose her.  
_

Cosmo knew that he had to find Timmy quick before this gets any worse.

But he wasn't aware that the worst had already been done.

…

The group of fairies had taken the forms of adults in their late twenties, and looked as if they were wandering aimlessly through the streets of Dimmsdale. Cosmo and Wanda had taken the lead as they walked side by side, and their glances became more frantic the more that time went on. The streets were littered with faint signs of life and showered with a few street lights that barely uncovered anything of significance to their search.

As they approached a long deserted road, the land was vast and empty with only a few street lights to light their path. Cosmo took a deep breath and bravely moved onward. This road would eventually lead to the abandoned train stop they would often visit to get away from civilization, but they took to searching for Timmy on the way there instead of poofing themselves there in an instant, just in case he was going or coming from there.

The road was desolate, void of any vehicles and the land was plain and vast, as if the sandy desert was stretching as far as it could go towards the dark horizon. The sky was bright with starry activity, and they'd sometimes pass abandoned buildings, lively bars or brightly lit gas stations, but still... no sign of Timmy anywhere.

Wanda was shivering. The night air was cold and her fears hadn't diminished at all. Cosmo took one look at her, and he grimaced at the state of her. She was grief-stricken, it was plain on her face, and it broke him up. So, he carefully wrapped his arm around her waist and slowly pulled her towards him as they walked on.

"We'll find him, lollipop." He said softly as he resorted to his old pet names to comfort her the best he can.

As much as Wanda appreciated this, and her small smile towards him seemed to suggest this, she was still racking her mind to thoughts of her shared kiss with Anti-Cosmo. She felt nothing but guilt and sadness since then. It was something she couldn't easily forgive herself for, and couldn't forgive Anti-Cosmo either despite them being on good terms. It continued to bother her as fleeting thoughts passed through her mind the more she searched on for Timmy. They couldn't be ignored and they couldn't be replaced by her worrying thoughts of Timmy.

The stress was building up inside her. She couldn't find it within her to hold it in anymore, and she knew she had to confront her demons sooner or later. As she walked along the side of the dark and empty road, leaning against Cosmo in silence with his arm protectively around her, Wanda finally made up her mind.

She had to tell Cosmo. She owed him that much.

Meanwhile, Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda had hung back as they walked side by side with less frantic searching.

Anti-Cosmo noticed how quiet his wife was being. Usually he wouldn't think this was too out of the ordinary as she usually was the quiet observant one out of the group. However, her distance from him was too apparent. Even though they'd walk side by side, there was a short gap between them that Anti-Cosmo could have sworn stretched on wider than he could've imagined.

His eyes flickered over to her. She looked a little dejected, as if her small mind was wandering over to something important. Anti-Cosmo would often catch her this way, assuming that she'd be thinking of food or taking a nap or something that didn't require a whole lot of thinking.

However, the more he looked at her, he noticed the little things that he had never noticed before while he had his intelligence. Anti-Wanda wasn't thinking, in fact she was doing far beyond that.

_She's... she's completely calm... as if her mind is completely clear, without a care in the world...  
_

Anti-Wanda wouldn't delve into her problems or her worries like the others had, as she didn't feel the need to worry over trivial things in her everyday life. She was the sort of person who took things as they came, and experienced new and exciting things every day. She went along with the flow of what she felt. She acted as if her heart as on her sleeve, and trusted her emotions entirely. She found no use to think too much about them. She couldn't think, so she simply _felt._

_It's so simple, and she's so simple... that it's almost genius..._

Anti-Cosmo was floored, as if he was looking at his wife for the first time all over again, and finally acknowledged that this was a revelation that he wasn't aware of at all despite all their years of marriage.

She'd always been this way, ever since they met, and yet it only took him until now to realise this. Anti-Wanda always acted on her trusted feelings as Anti-Cosmo would act on his intelligent thoughts, because they felt that they trusted themselves the most this way. It made sense, and it was so clear to him now.

It was obvious to him now more than ever because he felt the exact same way. He couldn't think anymore. So, he trusted what he felt within him to be the right thing to do. And what he wanted to do at that very moment, whilst walking beside Anti-Wanda in the dimly lit street, was to show her that he loved her more than anything else.

That kiss he had with Wanda was completely gone from his mind. It made no impact on his thoughts or his feelings whatsoever because it did nothing for him. Wanda didn't even come up on his radar. She was a small blip that vanished out of existence next to the colossal impact that Anti-Wanda made on him.

"Anti-Cosmo?" Anti-Wanda asked in wonder, as she felt as if he was burning a hole in the side of her head with how much he was gazing at her.

When she turned towards him curiously, as she wondered why he was so intent on her, her eyes widened when she was met with his. He looked at her with all the love he could muster within him, and his eyes softened as he continued to gaze at her. He even managed to give her a warm passing smile, as if he was happy enough simply to be beside her.

Anti-Wanda didn't know what to make of this at first. It caught her off guard for a moment, and she half-expected him to say something sweet to her as he always did when he had his intelligence. But, as she sadly realised, he couldn't do that anymore and he could only smile at her the best he could. The words she would rely on so much to let her know that he loved her were gone, and she was left with this.

But, not all was lost. Because despite being stripped of his comforting words, Anti-Wanda still found herself feeling loved.

For the moment she looked over to Anti-Cosmo, they had stopped walking all together. As they looked at each other in the soft glow of the dim street lights, the Earth seemed to have fallen beneath their feet, and there was nothing else left in the universe except them. She felt as if her heart was racing a mile a minute within her chest, and noted how amazing this feeling was to her. They were still that same married couple sitting peacefully on the sofa, simply enveloping themselves in the happiness that they brought each other.

Anti-Cosmo brought his hand up to brush his fingers gently against her cheek, and her skin burned from this sudden contact. She felt herself take a soft, deep breath as she felt his fingertips run down her skin and over the tips of her burning red ears. A few strands of curly blue hair were pushed to the side and over her shoulder. Anti-Wanda couldn't move, she couldn't even blink. She didn't want this feeling to end. It was as if she hadn't seen her husband for thousands of years. Her time with Cosmo was like a confusing muddle of memories that faded away from her mind, and the only thing that mattered was the fact that she had her real husband in front of her at that moment.

"I, um... I..." Anti-Cosmo stuttered as he stared at her with mixed emotions, "Anti-Wanda, I... well..."

He was trying so hard to tell her sweet things, the kind of things that he had always done whilst he had his intelligence, but he couldn't find the words within him anymore. He looked desperate as he pushed his brain into overdrive. He searched for the right words to form, but his voice was lost as he sadly couldn't do it. He relied so much on his words before, and now that he couldn't... he was _crushed._

He breathed in frustration as he felt completely discouraged. He convinced himself that he had completely blown it with her.

However, she knew that he was at least trying his hardest. In fact, she was feeling more and more relieved as she acknowledged that he was attempting with all of his strength to get back to how he used to be, despite all they had been through that day, all for the sake of telling her how much he loved her. It meant so much to her that he at least tried. She felt incredibly moved. And incredibly loved.

Anti-Wanda gently took his hand away from her cheek, and inspected it carefully in her hands. Anti-Cosmo was about to interject, as he intended to ask her what she was doing, but he felt too disheartened from moments ago to pick up the courage. She was gone for too long, gone with a man that he hated, and now she was suddenly here, and he wanted to just be grateful for that.

Then, to his shock, she slowly took his hand and gently placing it against her lips. She kissed his skin softly, and slowly.

And that was it.

It was that moment, that singular act by Anti-Wanda, that made him realise...

"Anti-Wanda..." he said as he simply let the words tumble out as they came, "Despite everything that's happened, you still... you surprise me. Your kiss, it was so small but to me it was so much more. And while you still make me happy... there is no gift too small for me to cherish."

He had hoped he had said truly what he felt was right in his heart and that he had said it right. Because it was true, that little kiss from her was all it took for him to feel completely at ease, and he wanted her to know just how much it really impacted on him. And so, the way that Anti-Wanda smiled up to him with her eyes widening with so much happiness within them told him that she knew exactly what he meant. She knew and she loved him all the more for it.

"There's no gift too large that I wouldn't give to you." She replied with a playful smile. "Unless it's a large stuffed crust pizza... then we'd have to share!"

Anti-Cosmo suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. His sides almost split as he watched her expression look confused as usual, and as she failed like always to see what was so hilarious. He was just so happy at that moment. He was glad to have his wife joking around with him again, and he couldn't hide just how happy he was anymore. He grinned widely as his laughter died down, and saw her smile back to him. It had been a long eventful day, and this little break from reality was just what they needed to pick things back up as if nothing had happened in the first place.

Anti-Wanda stepped forward, then placed her head against his chest and allowed him to embrace her as if they were returning back home. She grabbed hold of the back of his clothes as he wrapped one arm around hers, then held the back of her head with his other hand and buried his face in her blue hair.

"You look at things in a way I've never known. You look at things as they are. You look at me as I am. And you love me all the same. Anti-Wanda, since when have you had so much wisdom?" Anti-Cosmo asked her with a small laugh, making her giggle against him.

"Since always," she said softly, "I suppose... I figured you had your own way of looking at things."

"I do... well, I did." He admitted as he brought himself away to look her in the eyes, "To think that you had to put up with my egotistical genius all these years! You must have stepped aside so many times so that I could indulge in my work towards world domination. And so... you must have occasionally questioned where my priorities lie. I respect you so much, Anti-Wanda. You're a woman of many talents, and you don't need intelligence to prove it. I see now... you have the patience of a saint."

"Oh, I don't mind," She said sincerely. Then she took a moment to think before her smile fell a little as she continued, "I think that's what love is, when you look for nothing in return."

"But I..."

Anti-Wanda interrupted him with a quick and impulsive kiss, softly placing her lips against his to capture his words. He was going to implore that he did try to show her that he truly did love her all this time despite all of this, but she silenced him and his line of thought.

"I know, don't worry, I know how you feel about me. You expressed it in your own way." She looked away from him for a moment blankly, "I'll admit, sometimes I do find it difficult to see that. Marriage is certainly a wild adventure, ain't it? But it's also a war. We're constantly battling with each other and with ourselves as if marriage is the closest thing we have to the idea of Heaven and Hell."

Anti-Cosmo wasn't sure how to take this. He feared the worst from how dark this conversation was suddenly becoming.

_Was she admitting this now because she was unsatisfied in our relationship? Oh, Anti-Wanda...  
_

"Are you not happy?" Anti-Cosmo asked her as his voice became pained. He was almost afraid to even ask, "Do you wish we hadn't... do you... do you regret saying yes when I...?"

"Oh, of course I don't regret marrying you, you idiot." She laughed whole-heartedly, although she found it strange and hilarious to be calling him that. She took his face in her hand to comfort him, "I love you and I'm very happy with you. I don't feel second best between you and your plans for world conquest, and I don't want to simply free fall through life with you. That's ridiculous, Anti-Cosmo! I said yes because I wanted to spend my immortal life with you, no matter what may happen to us. I love you."

She looked at him with sincerity, then told him as softly as she could, "I'll admit, I was a little scared when I agreed to marry you, but only because I was afraid of what that might do to us. I guess at the time I didn't have much of an idea of what marriage was, and I thought it just meant that two people were tied together forever. But you know, all I could think was that I would be a burden on you. I would slow you down from what you wanted out of life. You still have so many dreams and ambitions, I..."

Anti-Cosmo placed his hand under her chin, and cupped her gently to make her look up to him. It almost pained him to see how torn up she was from this, and he wanted to assure her otherwise. Again, he couldn't find the right words just yet, and felt she still had more to say. And he was right, as she took solace in his touch, she continued on.

"But... slowly, as the years went on, it was as if nothing ever changed. You're still the same Anti-Cosmo and I haven't loved you any less than when we first met, even if you're not smart anymore. Then I finally realised that marriage didn't change us at all, but being in love did. And, really, that's all that mattered."

"I think I understand." He said, his voice barely a whisper.

"And do you understand why we work so well together?" She asked carefully as she broke herself away from him to loosely hold on to his shoulders, "When I'm weak, you're strong for me. Then when you're weak, I become strong for you. We make a good team, each becoming a pillar of support for each other when we need it the most."

"Now that sounds familiar." He said with an amused smirk.

"So you knew that all this time?"

"I've always known that. My head isn't always stuck up my backside, you know. I do notice things about us." Anti-Cosmo replied softly, running an idle hand through her blue hair, gently running his fingers down her neck, "I like knowing that we can confide in each other when we need to, so I've known that for a long time. But it doesn't change the fact that I'm always finding out more and more interesting things about you every day."

Anti-Wanda bit her lip from how he was making her feel, through his words and his touch, and replied softly while trying not to lose herself completely, "I... didn't know you're still trying to figure me out. I guess this is something I'm finding out about you, now."

"That makes us even, you wise old crone."

"Hey!"

Anti-Cosmo laughed as he ducked for cover, and his wife struck a playful punch at his arm while attempting to look angry, but her uncontrollable laughter made this almost impossible. Then as their laughter died down, they found themselves once again content in each other's presence as if nothing had come between them at all. Anti-Cosmo was so relieved, and so pleasantly surprised by how wonderful he felt with his wife, and how wonderful she was.

He took a long look at her smile before stepping towards her, and rested his head over hers to wrap his arms around her once more, building a cage with his arms as if he wanted her to stay with him for as long as he wanted. And she happily obliged when she gripped on to his clothes as she felt the fast pace of his heart pumping against her ear - a feeling she knew she'd never get used to.

"My Anti-Wanda." He breathed with happiness.

Anti-Cosmo felt the peace and tranquility from before, and this time she felt as if he shared it with his wife, like they were in their own paradise they had created for themselves.

He felt as if throughout this entire day, it was like a constant test for them to battle and force themselves through, and he was more than delighted to acknowledge that they would always come through together in the end. They would triumphantly stand over all of their worst fears, and find themselves to be stronger than ever before. They couldn't be broken apart from each other for long. This day had just proven this fact more than ever.

_There's still hope._

As Anti-Cosmo thought this, as he took her in his arms and knew that they could honestly take on the entire universe together, he trusted his beliefs that everything would be alright in the end. Yet he knew... he had to face his worst fear yet.

The fear of losing her.

"Anti-Wanda..." he started, and swallowed hard as he understood that it had to be done, and that he had to be brave, "there's something I need to tell you... about something that happened earlier today... with Wanda..."

...


	6. Act Six

…

_Act Six: _Broken

_..._

As Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were having their discussion far off down the road, Cosmo and Wanda had barely noticed that they had stopped at all.

Cosmo was too intent in searching for Timmy that he looked onward, hoping with all of his heart that Timmy was waiting for them at the abandoned train station. They were there earlier that day, maybe there was a chance he returned there. Cosmo had envisioned it in his mind that Timmy would be sitting on the side of the platform, as he usually would, calmly enjoying the silence around him and taking in the fresh air. And Cosmo and Wanda would approach him from a distance, noticing his tiny hat like a little pink dot from afar, as they'd run to him once they saw his toothy grin. Then they would hold him tight, and refuse to let him go.

Cosmo hoped, he hoped as much as he could as he held Wanda close to his side. He was glad she was at least alongside him, and he still marveled at the fact that even in his current state of mind he could still always rely on his wife to give him strength.

But he had no idea that in a moment, the last of his hope would diminish from within him.

"Cosmo..." Wanda whispered from his side, her voice was barely audible beside him. She gently placed her hand on his, and took it away from her waist so she could distance herself away for a moment.

"What is it?" Cosmo said gently as he was torn from his thoughts. And he noticed his wife look increibly distraught beside him.

Wanda fidgeted at first, her eyes darting from every corner as long as she didn't meet his concerned gaze, and she pressed her lips together nervously. Her mind was racing with so many confusing thoughts, and there was so much guilt and anger clouding up her mind. It was hard for her to think of what to say next.

_But it's now or never._

Finally, she took a brave step in front of him to stop him suddenly in his tracks. Cosmo stumbled backwards as she did this and finally he halted. His eyes shot open as wide as they could go as he became all the more alert.

"Wanda, what's wrong?" He rushed his words as he spluttered out of surprise.

"I... I need to tell you something... something important," she started, but she was thrown slightly as she heard her own voice beginning to crack in her throat, "and I'd really like you to hear me out on this! I know how you get sometimes."

"What do you mean?" Cosmo asked her, his eyebrows arched upwards in annoyance from her indication. Wanda noticed this, and tried desperately to defend herself. She didn't want him to get angry at her... just yet.

"I know how you can get emotional sometimes, and you don't want to hear the full story, but this time it is really... _really _important that you listen to me carefully." Wanda's authoritative tone of voice dropped in an instant as her anxiety rose up once more. "Okay?"

Cosmo was silent for a moment, took a silent deep breath to clear his irritation for the moment, and then he squinted his eyes at her.

"Okay, Wanda." He said cautiously, unsure of what to make of this all of a sudden.

Cosmo was a smart guy, and he still wasn't used to all the logical conclusions he was coming to in his mind. He knew Wanda was upset, that much was obvious, but as to why she was upset... he could only draw a couple conclusions, and he liked none of the ones he thought of.

He certainly wasn't stupid anymore. He noticed how Anti-Cosmo seemed so friendly with Wanda now, and he noticed how she was getting on so well with him too. He definitely noticed how she seemed to enjoy his company alongside them all, even more so than when Cosmo was around her.

He knew that Wanda's side glances to Anti-Cosmo were on purpose, Cosmo just chose to ignore these signs. But at the back of his mind, at the far off corners of his logical thoughts, he was making mental notes every time this happened. And he didn't like what his suspicions and conclusions came to when he saw them look at each other the way they did.

And as Wanda took a deep breath, Cosmo did too, preparing for the worst.

"Cosmo, I..." Wanda's voice trailed off as soon as her eyes met up with Cosmo's, and saw that he looked just as distressed as she did.

It broke her apart. She buckled beneath his anguished gaze, losing all of the nerve that she had gathered within her for that moment, and she was stuck in mid-sentence. She didn't want to hurt him, with all of her heart she didn't want to cause him any pain with what she had done, but she had no idea how to approach this without doing so. Wanda felt she was completely unable to move a muscle, and she let her mouth hang open as soundless words became stuck in her throat.

"...what?" Cosmo asked her quietly, his voice was completely broken up. His eyes were watery and his face was completely riddled with despair.

Wanda couldn't ignore that either. It was as if he couldn't bare to speak either. He wanted nothing more for her to continue, but also wanted more than anything for her to never speak about this again. He wanted to leave, get away from here as fast as possible, run away from the truth as quickly as possible, just as long as he never heard Wanda tell him that...

"I didn't want Timmy to make that wish." She said.

"...you, um... what?"

Cosmo was taken aback. Relieved, so incredibly relieved, and so grateful that his worst fears hadn't come true.

_Thank merciful God she hasn't fallen in love with Anti-Cosmo._

But Wanda only wanted to prolong the inevitable. It was obvious to her that Cosmo couldn't take this, not right now, they had more important things to worry about at that moment in time. She knew that Cosmo had to be in a better state of mind before she could tell him the truth about her kiss with Anti-Cosmo. She wasn't sure if he'd react to it well, especially with Timmy making them worry half to death. She knew it had to wait, wait until Timmy was safe and sound under their care and after Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo were back to the way they were.

Once they were all back to normal and everyone was safe, she could finally be able to tell him the truth. So for now, she wanted to divert him with another truth that she felt had to be made public to him.

"Cosmo, it may have been selfish to think something like this, but... I really didn't want Timmy to wish that you were smart." Wanda clutched her arms as she became reclusive and solemn as she spoke, "You just don't seem like yourself anymore."

"Wanda, I'm still me." Cosmo pleaded, grasping at his shirt over his heart as he looked intensely over to Wanda. He felt in his heart that he had made the wish out of everyone's best interests, and had hoped that Wanda had seen it that way too, but Cosmo was visibly upset when she had just proven him wrong, "So what if I made a little wish to make myself more smart, I'm still Cosmo. I'm still me! I haven't changed that much."

"You say that, but..." Wanda held on to her arms tightly as she looked away from him, and bit her lip as she refused to say anymore. She hated disagreeing with him, but she couldn't help the way she felt about this situation.

Cosmo has changed just from one wish, she felt. He wasn't that same happy, carefree man that she always adored anymore. Now he was a serious man thrown into the complexity of his sophisticated thoughts, pondering about life rather than just living it. It was something Wanda wasn't used to after ten thousand years of marriage, and she found it...

"It... it's off-putting." She finally admitted.

Cosmo looked at her with a convoluted expression, as if she had just thought of the most insulting word she could think of and said it aloud to him. He took a moment to compose himself. He was hurt that Wanda couldn't see it from his perspective, and it annoyed him to no end.

_She's so against what I believe would be best for everyone... why can't she see that?  
_

As he got himself together, he reluctantly looked towards her, and found it unbelievable that he had to even explain it to her.

"Do you know why I made this wish, Wanda?" Cosmo said, clenching his fists by his sides as he gave her a hard look, "I wanted to help you. I wanted to be useful to you and Timmy, not just to beat some anti-jerk at chess. No, it was never about that. It may have started out that way, but Wanda you know me. You know I've always felt inadequate with everything I do. I wanted to change for the better, not for the worse. I don't understand why... you don't seem to get that..."

His voice trailed away from annoyance to a dejected tone, as he slowly realised just how disappointed he was about this. He really thought that he could rely on his wife, his dear wife he loved more than anything in the world, but he felt shot down by this realisation that perhaps his wife didn't know him as well as he thought...

"Cosmo, c'mon!" Wanda said defensively as she took a step towards him, holding her clenched hands to her chest, "I do know you, but I can't read your mind. How was I supposed to know this? From the very beginning of this wish, you were bragging about how clever you were compared to Anti-Cosmo and how he couldn't stand a chance next to you now. I didn't know it was more than that. It never even _occurred_ to me that it was so much more than that."

"If you were smart, you would have." Cosmo said simply as he spoke directly from how hurt he was feeling, and folded his arms as he looked away from her.

"If I were smart... oh Cosmo, listen to yourself!" Wanda cried in disgust as her voice rose with anger, "You sound like a pompous know-it-all! If I had known that intelligence would go straight to your head then I would've begged Timmy not to have made that wish!"

Suddenly Cosmo felt as if she was shooting daggers at him with her words. He could only feel the stinging pain she caused him as he shook his head and scoffed at her.

"You don't like that I'm smarter than you now, is that it?"

"What?!" She was shocked, outraged with how ludicrous this was becoming.

"That's it, isn't it? Face it, Wanda, you're only with me because you like being right all the time. It was easy to be with me because of how dumb I used to be. Now that I'm smart, you don't like the fact that I could challenge you in our relationship now!" Cosmo took her silence as defeat, rather than the insurmountable rage that was building inside of her, and he dared to continue. He almost smirked by how he seemed to silence her with his words and let out a scorned laugh as he felt incredulous about this, "I'm right, aren't I? In fact, don't answer that. You've never liked to admit that you're wrong."

"God, you're unbelievable!" Wanda yelled to him as her fists began to shake at her sides in fury, and stepped closer towards him with an intimidating glare, "It's impossible to talk to you while you're this way. You're refusing to listen to anything I say! Oh, that's unless I'm feeding your inflated ego. You'll listen to me then, won't you?"

They were only inches away from each other. Their faces seethed with rage and the only sounds they could hear were their heavy breathing. They didn't dare to go any closer than they already were, and their hands were visibly shaking from the sheer fury that they both felt. It had been a long, long time since they had an argument as serious as this, and they were both the type to rarely ever argue over anything like this. In fact, Cosmo was certainly not the type to be angry at her over something like this because he would usually forget how furious he felt. His carefree and simple-minded nature made him get over things a lot more easily.

However, he was far too hurt by Wanda's accusations. He couldn't help mull over her words over and over in his clever mind as he found many more things to feel angry about.

_"You just don't seem like yourself anymore..."_

_"It's... off-putting..."_

_"...pompous know-it-all..."_

_"...inflated ego..."_

He hated this feeling of over thinking everything she says and does around him, it was something he couldn't ever get used to. He was a nervous wreck, even more so now that Timmy was gone, and he was afraid that Wanda was right about what she said.

But he refused to believe how cruel he was being with his words. He refused to acknowledge that he was really only grasping at whatever he could think of to ignore the fact that he had changed from the man he used to be. He didn't feel different, but he thought differently, and he didn't want to admit that this had changed him in many ways. He didn't want to admit that yet again Wanda was right... and Cosmo, as usual, was in the wrong.

"I just don't want to feel like a failure anymore." Cosmo said with a cold, distant tone of voice, "I thought you would've understood that about me."

"Cosmo, pay attention!" Wanda seethed through gritted teeth, "I didn't know this was how you felt... but this doesn't change the fact that you're acting like a pretentious jerk right now!"

"I'd have thought you liked pretentious jerks. You seem to be getting on with Anti-Cosmo well enough!" Cosmo shouted bitterly, and his true feelings finally began to surface over everything else.

Wanda, however, had overwhelming feelings of dread burning inside her chest. She was shaking as she was almost too afraid to ask,

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what I mean." Cosmo accused her. It was too late to go back on what he said, so he continued to blurt out what he was feeling about the two of them, "This is blatantly obvious now, but I'm not stupid. I know you two have been hitting it off. You haven't kept your eyes off each other all evening! You two should really get a room when you're looking at each other like that!"

Wanda said half-sarcastically without thinking, "Well, I guess that explains what happened earlier."

"And what's _that _supposed to mean?"

"It means I _kissed_ him! _There!_ _Are you_ _happy now?!"_

Wanda could only see red. The same red she saw when she had fought with Anti-Cosmo earlier that day. It clouded her mind, it clouded her judgement, and she could only feel the insurmountable rage that was building and building until she could just see red.

However, once she had slowly began to realise what she had just admitted to him, and the true extent of her words, she immediately backed down. She stepped back with terror, noticing how Cosmo had done the exact same, until they were only staring at each other with nothing but fear cast over their faces. Wanda was trembling more than ever, her true fears of losing Cosmo were completely surfacing, and she fought the urge to let uncontrollable tears well up in her eyes.

Cosmo felt the exact same. His fears from earlier were re-surfacing, only this time he felt nothing but overwhelming dread wash over him as he began to realise what this may mean. He just couldn't believe it, he _refused _to believe it, as he could only stare at her in shock as if an earthquake couldn't remove him from where he stood.

"You... you what?" Cosmo could barely manage words out of his mouth, let alone recognise his conflicting emotions.

"No... wait Cosmo, I can explain..."

"Explain that you _kissed him_?"

Wanda was desperate. She flailed her hands in sheer desperation to save this. She was prepared to do anything, prepared to say anything to save this. She just didn't want him to look at her with those frantic, distraught eyes anymore.

"Cosmo! Listen to me, I... I didn't kiss him!"

"But you just said that you did!" Cosmo yelled, completely confounded by what she was saying.

"I know I did! Actually he, um, he kissed me." Wanda lied through her teeth, desperately latching on to any explanation she could to ease the situation.

"_What?!_"

Immediately, she regretted everything she said.

"But you... you have to let me explain this, it's complicated, I... _Cosmo!_"

She couldn't say anymore.

At that moment, Cosmo had quickly turned on his heels and sprung off his feet into the air. He'd leapt away from her suddenly and Wanda yelled after him as she ran behind him, stumbling forward in surprise as she realised he'd gone in an instant. She ran after him in sheer desperation down the empty, dark road.

He was gunning towards Anti-Cosmo. Wanda could see it in his eyes the instant she had told him the truth. She could see the murderous intent burning within him, his entire being wanting nothing more but to wrap his hands around Anti-Cosmo's throat, and the way Cosmo had jumped towards his direction suggested that he had no problem in making that a definite reality.

…

Anti-Cosmo had Anti-Wanda's arms in his hands, keeping her at a short distance as he looked into her eyes with sincerity. She looked back, puzzled as to why he was suddenly so much more serious and solemn from their conversation only moments ago.

_"There's something I need to tell you... about something that happened earlier today... with Wanda..."_

Anti-Wanda had tilted her head slightly in confusion. She suspected that something may have happened between the two, but she was much too naïve to realise the true extent of what may have occurred. The truth of it all was very far from her thoughts. It hadn't even cropped up in her mind at all. In fact, Anti-Wanda paid Wanda little to no mind while this whole day had played out.

But Anti-Cosmo didn't know where to start. He didn't know what to expect once he told her the truth, that in a moment of drunken stupidity he had shared a passionate kiss with Wanda. However, no matter how drunken or how stupid the move was, he had still betrayed his wife. He knew he had to tell her. He just had to come clean, he owed her that.

Anti-Cosmo's mouth was dry, his nerves were building as he tried his best to form the best possible words in his mind, and looked at her carefully with a tight hold of her arms.

"Anti-Wanda, please listen to me..." He began, watching her interest in him grow even more.

"Yes?" She asked innocently.

She had no idea what was to come, and Anti-Cosmo couldn't decide whether this would be better or worse for her once he told her. He took a very deep breath, swallowed his nerves, and blurted out,

"Well, the truth is, me and Wanda... we..." Anti-Cosmo's trail of thought slowed down as his thoughts were slowly churning in his mind, and his nerves were disappearing the more he looked into his wife's innocent gaze. He cleared his throat once more, feeling perspiration crawling down the side of his face, and gritted his teeth together.

_Any moment now... the words will come tumbling out of my mouth... any moment now, and the truth will be out in the open... any moment... now..._

Anti-Wanda felt the need to gently stroke his arm for support. He looked like he was having an internal struggle with himself, and she wanted him to know that she was always going to be there for him. This kind gesture of hers wasn't lost on him, and made him feel even more guilty for his actions. Anti-Wanda was so sweet, so kind to him, she didn't deserve this...

So, Anti-Cosmo glanced at the floor between them for a moment, a look of sheer determination crossed his face as he gathered all the courage he could find within himself, and shot back up to meet her gaze with a vacant look on his face.

_Just say it, damn you!_

"We kissed."

Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo's eyes closed as tight as they could as if he was trying his best to hold his breath, waiting for whatever was about to come his way. He was terrified of the possible barrage of insults and hysterical slandering heading his way. There was no way, he thought, that his wife wouldn't be absolutely mortified with anger at him for this. So, he closed his eyes and turned away, as if to react quickly from any emotionally stunting insults that were sure to come his way.

_Any second now._

There was a long silence between them. There was nothing but an unnerving tension falling over them, as if the air around them erratically changed within seconds after he told her the truth. Anti-Cosmo peaked one eye open to curiously see what was happening, and wondered why she wasn't being angry with him already.

And in that instant, he wish he had kept his eyes shut.

Anti-Wanda's face was a frighteningly pale blue. Her eyes were wide, shell-shocked with fear of what this may mean, and her face was completely broken apart. Anti-Cosmo didn't know what to do as soon as he saw this, and he couldn't stand seeing her this way. He'd never seen her with so much terror in her eyes, and he'd never felt her softly tremble beneath his fingers as she had done then. Her bottom lip trembled as she silently mouthed her reply,

"...wh-what?" She couldn't find her voice. In fact, she felt as if she couldn't breathe.

Anti-Cosmo's heart was aching with regret as he continued to hold on to her. He didn't want to let go, he feared that if he did then he would lose her. He couldn't do that, he knew that he could never be able bare it. If he were to lose his wife, he was sure that he wouldn't know what to do with himself whether he was smart or not. And he knew that if he were to lose her now, it would be all his fault. If she left him, he only had himself to blame.

He was suddenly frantic with fear, and quickly held on to her as he tried to desperately explain the situation,

"Yes, we kissed... but only because, well..." Anti-Cosmo couldn't find the right words. The words he had relied on so much in the past had completely abandoned him, and he was racking his muddled brain for any possible answers that might be able to save him yet.

But he couldn't stand the way that she would look at him with so much horror in her eyes. He was determined to find something, anything to say. He hoped with all his heart that he could find any kind of explanation that would make everything alright. But the more he looked at her pained expression, the less patient he became with himself, so he found himself blurting out the first thing that popped up to him.

"We kissed... but I'm stupid, and I was drunk, and then... I don't know, then I wanted to kiss her..."

"You _wanted _to...?"

Anti-Wanda felt as if those words had punched her in the gut.

"No, no! Well... yeah, but not in the way you think!" Anti-Cosmo cried hectically, and tightly grasped on to her as if holding her was helping the situation somehow.

But he was truly at a loss for words. The right way of putting things were completely out of his grasp and he felt defeated. He was completely destroyed on the inside as he desperately attempted to put together the right words in his mind. He wanted her to understand that it all was a huge misunderstanding, a regret that he wished that he could take back so that she wouldn't be hurt anymore. He could only look at her, his eyes straining to pull back the desperation that was so apparent in his expression, but he failed as he could barely sound out,

"Do you know what I mean?"

_I don't... I really don't..._

She couldn't comprehend this at all. To Anti-Wanda, he'd just told her that he had kissed her counterpart. She had barely even acknowledged Wanda throughout this entire ordeal. And he had also told her that he _wanted_ to kiss her.

_What does that mean?_

Her mind raced with all the possibilities on what this could mean for her and Anti-Cosmo. He looked terrified as he held her and locked her into place in his hands. He looked to her with desperation and fear, and she could only feel herself shivering against his fingers.

She replied with a look of dread all over her face, feeling limp and lifeless in his hands, and let her mouth hang open as if to find some kind of voice in her throat. But she couldn't feel herself breathing, let alone make any kind of audible sound.

The only thing she could make sense out of this, and the only logical explanation that could come to in her small mind, was her most worst fear coming true...

_"Do you know what I mean?"_

_Do you... love her? Are you in love with Wanda?_

Anti-Wanda was about to ask this, despite every voice in her head yelling at her to never ask that question out of fear of what he might tell her. She could be losing her husband, and she thought she had already lost him by what he'd just told her, but she had to know. Anti-Wanda wanted to know if this meant that their earlier conversation was only to butter her up to this moment. The moment that Anti-Cosmo would admit to her that he loved another.

And just as she was fighting a losing battle to keep in the creeping tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes, she was interrupted by a distant sound approaching them from far away. It was quickening tapping noise, like a stampede of buzzing sounds growing louder and louder to distract her from her anxious thoughts.

Anti-Cosmo hadn't noticed at all, as he was much too intent on his wife and what she was about to say.

_Do you understand me, Anti-Wanda? Have you figured out that the kiss I shared with Wanda was nothing but a mistake? Do you know...?_

"Cosmo?" Anti-Wanda finally said with confusion as she looked towards the growing noise that distracted her away from her husband.

Anti-Cosmo was immediately puzzled by this, and agitated by the sound of his name. He had disrupted their lives enough for one day, and he wondered what he could possibly do now that could come between them when they desperately needed a moment alone together.

Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo felt as if a bulldozer had just ran him down.

"Cosmo!" Wanda screamed from afar.

Anti-Wanda looked on in horror as she watched her husband get tackled to the ground by Cosmo. It took Anti-Cosmo a couple of seconds to truly realise what he just happened. As his head violently hit the concrete road beneath them, he looked up to see that someone had pounced against him to rip him away from Anti-Wanda, as they threw their arm against his ribs and knocked him hard towards the road with all of their strength.

Anti-Cosmo was dizzy from the heavy impact against his head and for a moment he felt as if he had been knocked out cold. He struggled to find his senses as he could barely hear their wives shouting their names behind them, and finally his vision cleared to see Cosmo's furious face over his with dangerous intent in his eyes. Anti-Cosmo struggled to get up, but he found his arms had been pinned to the concrete by Cosmo's hands, firmly pressing him to the ground. Cosmo had him locked on to the road by sitting on his stomach, gripping on to his arms and inching his enraged face closer to Anti-Cosmo's, who only looked back at him with discontent.

Anti-Cosmo gritted his teeth with exasperation, and flashed him an intimidating glare as his fangs peered out beneath his lips,

"Cosmo? Let go of me!"

"I'm _not_ finished with you!" Cosmo snarled through his teeth.

Suddenly, as he held down Anti-Cosmo's arms down against the ground so he wouldn't be able to defend himself, Cosmo attempted to land a swift punch towards his head. Anti-Cosmo saw this coming in an instant as he struggled against him, and had ducked just in time as he narrowly avoided Cosmo's fist by a couple inches. Cosmo yelled out in pain as he felt his knuckles crack against the concrete beside Anti-Cosmo's head, retreated his wounded hand to nurse it, and Anti-Cosmo spotted this as an opening.

Swiftly, he hit Cosmo's chest with the base of his palm. Cosmo was momentarily winded, and fought desperately to gain the air back into his lungs. He coughed in pain as he fell beside Anti-Cosmo and clutched his fist against his bruised chest. Anti-Cosmo sat up as he rubbed the back of his head to feel where he had cracked his head against the road. Then Anti-Wanda knelt over to him, nervously reaching over to him to softly place her hands over the wound, and saw him wince when she finally found the stream of blood that ran down the right side of his skull.

"You're hurt!" She shouted with worry, as she instantly forgot everything that they had talked about only moments ago. The only thing she was concerned with was how injured her husband was.

"Yeah, but we can get it fixed up." Anti-Cosmo told her as soon as he turned to her. He flashed her a quick reassuring grin to ease her worry, as well as smiling in relief. At least she still appeared to care for him after all that has happened so far.

"Cosmo!" Wanda called as she ran over to bend over his crippled body. He was moaning softly in pain below her. "Cosmo, can you hear me? C'mon honey, you don't want to do this."

"How... can you say that?" Cosmo told her sternly with a strained voice as he struggled to get back up to his feet, "After what he did to you? He deserves a lot _worse_!"

Anti-Cosmo got to his feet and quickly glanced over to his wife, then acknowledged how worried she looked. He motioned for her to step back a few paces away from him in defence.

Anti-Wanda didn't know what to do. She didn't want Anti-Cosmo to fight, but she knew Cosmo was going to come after him no matter what. He was forced to defend himself. And as Anti-Wanda figured that Anti-Cosmo knew what he was doing, by a force of habit, she obeyed him. She stepped back away from him and kept herself at a safe distance. However, she kept her hands clamped tightly together over her chest as she worried about him from afar. She couldn't say or do anything that could possibly stop this, but she still couldn't help watch her husband hopelessly from the sidelines.

Wanda, however, was feeling a lot more conflicted than Anti-Wanda was. Cosmo was obviously under the impression that Anti-Cosmo had put the moves on her. She knew that she was being too cowardly to own up to her own lie. Cosmo was right about one thing, Wanda hated to feel in the wrong, but she didn't want Cosmo to be crushed because of what she did.

_It's all my fault... I need to tell him the full story..._

Before she could think any further, Cosmo had flew into the air once again towards Anti-Cosmo with his uninjured fist clenched into action beside him. Wanda called after him once again, but her desperate voice fell on deaf ears.

Anti-Wanda squealed, and Anti-Cosmo was instantly alert. Quickly, Anti-Cosmo brought his hands up as he saw Cosmo come bounding towards him. His fist aimed straight for the side of his face. Anti-Cosmo ducked to the side, then quickly pushed Cosmo's arm away before his fist was only inches away from Anti-Cosmo's face. Then, he pushed his palm against Cosmo's chin, and threw his head backwards and knocked him on to the ground.

"Cosmo!" Wanda shouted as he regained his balance on his feet.

"Let's see if your intelligence matches your strength." Anti-Cosmo challenged him with a smirk as he turned to push his foot forward. He held up his fists and posed into a ready stance, and smugly grinned as he waggled his fingers towards him, taunting him to bring it.

"Anti-Cosmo, don't!" Anti-Wanda warned him from afar as she realised that Anti-Cosmo's cocky attitude still hadn't changed.

Cosmo snarled in anger as he looked to his rival. He hated him with every fibre of his being. Cosmo couldn't stand his arrogance, especially the way he'd look down to him even as he was stripped of all his intelligence. Anti-Cosmo had taken Cosmo's dignity time and time again, had hurt him and teased him all of his life because he'd taken advantage of Cosmo's shortcomings.

_Now Anti-Cosmo is trying to take away my wife, my most important person... Wanda, you're the only thing I've ever got right... and he has the_ audacity_ to take her away from me!_

At that moment, he knew that he absolutely wasn't going to take it sitting down.

Cosmo was quick on his feet, and went after him in the same way he had done before with his fist flying towards him to punch the side of his face. Anti-Cosmo almost smirked by how dumb this move was. Cosmo was trying to confuse him by attempting to do the same thing he did before, and Anti-Cosmo had his arm ready to push him out the way.

Suddenly, Cosmo pulled his fist away, and instantly caught Anti-Cosmo off guard. Before he could react, he felt a large and heavy impact against the other side of his jaw that knocked him down. Cosmo had distracted Anti-Cosmo with the intention of punching him from the side, when he really put all his strength in the unsuspecting uppercut in his other hand creeping below him.

Cosmo stepped back to shake his injured hand, and smiled with satisfaction as he watched Anti-Cosmo stagger forward. He placed his hand over his mouth to feel the damage, and his jaw felt loose as if it had been knocked several inches out of place. Anti-Wanda quickly came over to him to look over the damage, and audibly gasped in horror as she saw Anti-Cosmo's lower lip swollen and spilling over with blood.

Anti-Cosmo growled after he spat out a few droplets of blood filling around his gums, and he moved his pained jaw around with his hand while glaring over to Cosmo with an intimidating glint in his eyes.

"Cheap shot." Anti-Cosmo told him as he stood up, and flicked away the blood spilling over his lip with this thumb.

Cosmo punched his palm, ready to take him on as he taunted, "Then let's see if your strength matches my tactical skills."

"Oh Cosmo..." Anti-Cosmo bitterly laughed, "...we haven't even started!"

The instant Anti-Cosmo had ended his sentence, he bounded towards Cosmo on his feet, and distracted him with a punch towards his face when he had really aimed his other fist to land heavily against his gut. Cosmo coughed up drops of spit as his eyes flew wide open. As he doubled over, Anti-Cosmo quickly brought his leg up to knee him squarely against his head. Cosmo shouted in pain as he was thrown backwards, and felt his right eye swell from the impact.

"Cosmo, no!" Wanda yelled in horror from a distance, feeling emotionally torn apart. She was still hesitating, conflicted between having Cosmo battle it out with Anti-Cosmo, or telling Cosmo the truth. Either way, he was going to be end up in pain.

Cosmo pushed himself up off the ground before Anti-Cosmo could get any closer to him. He leant on one elbow as he held up his wand towards him suddenly, and Anti-Cosmo wasn't quick enough to react as Cosmo blinded him with a ray of light flashing brightly from his wand. Anti-Cosmo cried out as he turned his head away as he was barely able to shield his eyes. Then, Cosmo had quickly appeared to grapple him from behind.

As Anti-Cosmo yelled with pain the more Cosmo pulled his arms behind him, Anti-Cosmo leapt into the sky to force them both into the air. Wanda and Anti-Wanda watched after them, terrified to lose sight of them for a second, and stared at them with terror as they saw Anti-Cosmo pushing Cosmo back down from a large height to crash against the earth beneath them.

Cosmo could swear he felt his spine snap in two as he collided against the ground with Anti-Cosmo on top of him. Anti-Cosmo took some of the damage as well since Cosmo hadn't let go of his arms, so he was forced to crush Cosmo beneath him and take some of the tremors of hitting the road. Then as Cosmo couldn't find the strength to hold on to Anti-Cosmo's arms anymore, Anti-Cosmo struggled to his feet and looked around at the damage he caused. He was standing in a small crater, and almost prided himself in his strength to cause the same amount of damage that a meteor would when it drops to the Earth.

"Guys, stop this!" Wanda urged once more from the edges of the crater, "We can settle things much easier if we just sit down and talk about it..."

"Can't do that, Wanda." Anti-Cosmo interrupted her, and grabbed hold of Cosmo's shirt to lift him off the ground. Suddenly, he swung him around and threw him across the road until he hit his broken back against a lamppost. Cosmo groaned in pain as he fell lifelessly under the street light shining over him. "Cosmo obviously has some things he wants to get off his chest... and, quite frankly, so do I." Anti-Cosmo turned to Cosmo who shifted and moaned in pain against the lamppost, "This has been long overdue, old friend."

_"Old friend."_ Cosmo spat out with a bitter laugh, and struggled to lift his head and glare at him with one black eye, "That's hilarious. You know you really know how to twist the knife. You're really calling me an _old friend _after what you've done to me."

"After what _I've_ done to you? Cosmo, you're the real comedian here. I mean, look at what you've done to me!" Anti-Cosmo shouted with animosity and marched towards him, and leant over him as if he was ready to attack him at any moment. "You've ruined me! You've made me into a mockery, a joke... I'm reduced to how _you _used to be! How can you sit there and accuse me of doing harm to you when you've completely destroyed my life?!"

"You've destroyed _my_ life!" Cosmo shouted aloud, "Wanda... she's _my_ life! How _dare _you try to take her away from me!"

Anti-Cosmo violently threw himself forward and grabbed a handful of Cosmo's shirt, ripping him away from the ground against the lamppost and pressed his forehead hard against Cosmo's. He almost head-butted him from how forceful he was being with him and seethed as if fire was burning within his intimidating gaze.

_"What the hell are you talking about, dammit!"_

"Oh, don't even try to act like you don't know what I'm talking about!" Cosmo replied as he grabbed a handful of Anti-Cosmo's clothes in return as he refused to back down from him.

They both had their fists in the air as they held on to each other's clothes, ready to hit the other if they were provoked any further. They were heavily breathing through their gritted teeth, glaring at each other as if sparks of heated electricity were crashing against each other between them. The energy around them was flaring as it appeared that the magic within them was solely fueled by each other's fury.

In the midst of all this, Anti-Cosmo quickly glanced over to his wife. _Anti-Wanda._ She looked as if she was frozen stiff, stricken with fear and sadness.

So, at the sight of her, Anti-Cosmo lowered his fist as he took a few deep breaths, and finally lifted his head off of Cosmo's to scowl.

"I honestly have no idea what you're implying, Cosmo."

Suddenly, without any warning, Cosmo's fist crashed against Anti-Cosmo's. He hit him with all of his strength, and sent him flying backwards towards the road.

"Anti-Cosmo!" Anti-Wanda screamed as she watched him fall lifelessly to the concrete. His head had been cracked open and blood was falling down his face, almost illuminating red streams of colour over his dark blue skin. She ran over to him, and threw her arms around him protectively to carefully take hold of the back of his head, and let his broken head lean on her chest.

"Cosmo, that's enough!" Wanda yelled, and stepped between them with her arms spread open wide to not allow Cosmo any closer to Anti-Cosmo.

Cosmo continued to breathe heavily. He felt completely enraged as he looked over his wife, who only gazed back at him. She looked angry, and she was determined to stand in his way. As soon as Cosmo acknowledged that Wanda had the tenacity to come between them, he knew that ultimately she had complete control over him. Cosmo backed down. He lowered his arms and his shoulders fell, then he took a few minutes to breathe deeply and ease his anger before looking back over to Wanda to assure her that he wasn't going to act out any further.

Wanda lowered her arms as well, but her expression hadn't changed. She was still persistent on protecting Anti-Cosmo, and Cosmo felt as if his heart was breaking.

"Wanda, please..." he said softly. His voice cracked as he cautiously stepped towards her and with complete desperation apparent in his eyes, "Please... don't fall for him. He kissed you because... that's part of his plan! He's evil, remember? He's only concerned about revenge, and he's trying to get back at me through you..."

"Presumptuous, isn't he?" Anti-Cosmo commented weakly with resentment.

"Cosmo, I... I don't know how to say this..." Wanda started, her authoritative attitude had diminished and she became reclusive, frightened, and Cosmo's eyes widened as he began to realise...

_Wanda... no..._

"...I lied to you, Cosmo. He didn't kiss me, we both did... we kissed each other. I... I'm as much to blame as he is. And I'm so... so sorry, Cosmo."

The Earth stood still beneath their feet. The silence that fell between them all was absolutely deafening.

Cosmo felt frozen. For a moment, he swore that he could feel completely numb all over as her words echoed in his mind like an endless cycle of torture.

Anti-Wanda's arms slowly moved away from Anti-Cosmo. Her previous feelings from before were rising up again and she couldn't find it within herself to hold him any longer. Anti-Cosmo looked over to her, and sorrow washed over his face as his silence solidified what Wanda had said as truth. Anti-Wanda backed off from him as she locked her frightened eyes to his, and shook her head slowly as if she was denying any of this as being reality. But he could only stare back at her, hopelessly lost for the right words to console her with.

Meanwhile, Cosmo's face turned a ghostly pale as he felt his heart plummet.

_No... no, that... that can't be... it can't..._

Then, a crack sounded all around them.

Cosmo could have sworn that it was the sound of his heart breaking, but the street light beside them had burst and plunged them into near darkness. The moonlight shone down on them, softening the morbid scene and hiding Cosmo's grief-stricken face away from his wife.

"Honey?" Wanda had managed to sound out, desperate to hear some kind of noise, any kind of noise to come from Cosmo. He could insult her, scream at her for all she cared. She felt she deserved it, but it was much worse just to see how torn up he was and say nothing at all to her. The silence was... painful, to say the least.

It hurt. It hurt them both. More so than words could possibly express.

After another long silence had drawn between them, Cosmo finally turned his head away from her. Wanda could barely make out his darkened figure clenching his fists at his side, and hid his face completely from her as she realised he couldn't take looking at her anymore. Wanda was crushed.

"Cosmo... please talk to me..."

"Don't come any closer!" He suddenly shouted as he heard her foot take a step forward.

Wanda jumped as he snapped at her, and froze completely in her tracks. But her stubborn persistence lead her to continue,

"Sweetie, I..."

"_Don't!_" He shouted to her again, and quickly took a step away from her like a frightened animal.

Wanda's mouth hung open. She was compelled to speak up again, as she was the kind of person who liked to have her say in everything, but she knew she had to be extremely sensitive to Cosmo. She needed to tread very carefully in this conversation, as she had already caused enough damage. But Wanda was too afraid to make it any worse. So, she decided to keep her lips sealed until he was ready to say something to her.

The impatience was maddening to her, and she wanted so much to make it up to Cosmo as quickly as possible, but the way he shouted to her was so, _so_ frightening. She'd never heard him use this tone of voice with her before. He was so broken up in a way that was so foreign to her, and she hated not knowing what to do in this situation.

_He's so different now... he's not the same Cosmo he used to be..._

And Wanda felt shaken up at the possibility of losing him altogether.

"I really don't know what to think, Wanda." Cosmo said quietly, grabbing her interest suddenly as she desperately hoped for some kind of comforting words from him. However, his solemn tone of voice didn't imply that was going to happen. "I'm so confused. I-I mean aren't smart people suppose to figure out what to do in this situation? For the first time all evening, I just... don't know what to do anymore."

"Being smart doesn't solve everything." Anti-Cosmo voiced over to him whilst he kept his gaze on Anti-Wanda. She hadn't said a word to him all this time. She had only retreated away from him, and glanced every so often at his wounds before looking away again with sadness.

Cosmo heavily breathed out slowly at the realisation...

"I really thought being smart would be for the best. I hoped that I would've become more useful to you all. But... everything's just fallen apart. Nothing's changed after all. I've... I've brought this upon myself."

"No, Cosmo, this isn't your fault." Wanda urged desperately, unable to take the way he beat himself down anymore.

"_It is_, Wanda, if I hadn't had made that wish then we wouldn't be in this mess!" Cosmo shouted to her before catching his breath in his throat, and his voice faded away solemnly. He fell to the ground in despair, then rested his elbows on his knees and he hid his face against his hands.

"I thought about this for a long time, Wanda." He finally admitted in a quiet, broken voice.

Wanda took a moment to compose herself as she was thrown off by how pained his voice was, and asked him very softly,

"Cosmo... what do you mean?"

"I mean I used Anti-Cosmo as an excuse to make the wish seem spontaneous. I wanted to hide the fact that I've wanted to be intelligent... for a very long time. I was so _sick_ of my stupidity getting us into trouble and putting everyone's lives at risk... I just felt like I was annoying everyone. You're right, Wanda, I have changed... but I changed long before I made this wish. I used to be helpful, I used to be fun, I used to be someone I _liked..._ but somewhere along the way, I changed into an obnoxious idiot that everyone simply had to put up with. And... _dammit,_ I used to treat you better Wanda!"

Wanda didn't dare to say anything, she was too anxious about how he had suddenly slammed his fist to the ground in anger at himself. Then, Cosmo took a moment to collect himself, and ran his frustrated hands through his green hair before continuing,

"I thought... I thought it was all because I was reduced to this stupid character that nobody could relate to. And eventually... my voice became some sort of background noise that everyone ignored because I didn't have anything useful to say. Nothing I ever said, no matter how hard I tried, could contribute to any given conversation or situation. It was... lonely. So, I figured if I made myself smarter, I'd find my voice again, and I wouldn't feel so isolated anymore. I'd be a better godfather to Timmy, and I'd be a better husband to you, Wanda. And... and also..."

Cosmo's head fell into his hands as he sobbed out...

"...and I just want to be a better person."

The silence was broken between them all as Cosmo's soft sobbing filled the air. Wanda felt as if her chest had knotted up with pain. She had no idea... she hadn't a clue that Cosmo was silently suffering to himself all this time.

Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda didn't say anything, but they felt for Cosmo. They were evil, but they weren't completely void of human emotion. They stayed in a supportive silence, as they knew that there was nothing they could do or say to help his situation in any way.

They only looked to Wanda, who hesitated where she stood, to reach out to him... and try her best to be there for him.

So, she very slowly and cautiously took a few steps towards him, and quietly approached him. Cosmo had brought his knees up and wrapped his arms around his legs, and sobbed into them as Wanda crouched down nearby. She went to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, or to stroke his messy hair that fell over his tearful cheeks... but her hand froze and hovered in the air. She sadly knew that he didn't want to be touched at that moment. So Wanda sat close by, and patiently waited.

Cosmo glanced at her as he felt slightly embarrassed by how he had broken down so suddenly, and leant his head against his legs as he felt his cheeks fill with colour. Wanda sighed, and fought the urge to smile sadly to herself by how he appeared to be bashful in front of her... despite the number of times he's cried to her. Cosmo was a crybaby after all, so it was nothing new.

"Oh sweetie..." Wanda said as softly as she could, and finally reached out to place her hand over his.

She slowly laced her fingers through his. Cosmo sniffed as he let her do this. Despite all that's happened, he still loved her. The touch of her fingers that wrapped around his was a great comfort to him. And Wanda spoke up again as she resisted the urge to cry alongside him,

"...if only I had known this sooner... no, I should have known. I should have paid more attention to you. I was thinking too selfishly all this time that I never realised how you really felt. I'm so sorry, honey, it's all my fault. It's my fault that I acted so foolishly and made this situation even worse. I don't really know what I was thinking..."

As Wanda's voice trailed off into the distance, her guilt took over her completely. She remembered how awful she felt when she lost Timmy, and the feeling of utter hopelessness and despair after kissing Anti-Cosmo, and she couldn't find it within herself to look for comforting words for Cosmo. He had every right to scold her and be angry with her, and despite everything she had done... Come still took all the blame upon himself. It tore her apart, and she squeezed his hand as she felt her heart sink within her chest.

Meanwhile, Cosmo looked over to Anti-Cosmo as Anti-Wanda was reluctantly dabbing at his wounds on his head. She looked as broken as he was, yet she still seemed to care for him completely despite how much hurt he caused her. Cosmo winced as he thought,

_It's cruel... how we can endure all the pains in the world, and still have enough love left over to look past it all. It's so unfair..._

Then, Cosmo withdrew his hand away from Wanda, and she felt as if she had been ripped away from him. As their hands grew distant from each other, so did they. Wanda desperately wanted to keep a hold of him, and attempted to reach out to place a comforting hand over his shoulders, but he shrugged away suddenly before she could touch him.

It hurt her. A lot. And he moved away from her so quickly as if he was repulsed by the very idea of touching her.

"I can't... not just yet." Cosmo told her quietly as he refused to look her in the eyes, "I need some time to think... away from you."

"What do you mean?" Wanda asked with dread filling her entire being.

She watched him pull himself up from the ground. He stood there for a moment, gazing up at the glowing moon shining down on to them, and let the silence between them drag on for a little while. It took him a moment to breathe out slowly, before finally turning back to Wanda who had stood up beside him.

"I mean I need to have some time alone for a while."

Wanda didn't like how he worded that at all.

"For a while? How long?" Wanda strained to find her voice without succumbing to her terror of losing him.

Cosmo was silent again.

Wanda felt as if that response was worse than speaking at all.

Suddenly, he hovered into the air and looked from left to right. He contemplated to himself for a moment as his vacant eyes avoided Wanda's longing gaze burning a hole into the side of his head, and looked over towards the horizon.

"I'll keep looking for Timmy. I'll try the east end of the city and see if I can find a route to places Timmy usually visits around there."

"But... what about me?" Wanda squeaked beneath him, and tightly pressed her hands over her chest as if she was trying not to let her heart sink any further than it already was.

Cosmo looked down to her, and stared at her with emptiness in his eyes. The way he looked at her was frightening, as if there wasn't a trace of love left within him, and Wanda felt as if she was going to be sick. Her stomach churned with how heavy her heart felt within her, and she strained her eyes from streaming with tears. She hated the way he'd look at her. She felt abandoned by him, like this truly was it between them, and she fiercely bit her lip to restrain herself from falling to her knees and begging for him to stay.

But she didn't.

_I can't..._

Wanda knew she deserved this. She knew it wouldn't help either of them if Cosmo stayed around her with the way he was looking at her then. He needed to get his thoughts together, needed to recognise his own direction in life, and figure out what would be best for himself and the others. Wanda had too much pride in herself to subject herself to a quivering mess and to selfishly claim Cosmo for her own without considering his feelings in the process.

_It's all for the best. If I have any faith in our love, then... I'm willing to wait as long as it takes for Cosmo to return to me._

Wanda turned away from him in defeat, avoided his blank stare, and nodded in understanding.

"Okay," she said sternly as she tried her best to seem confident. She tried to take control of her feelings, instead of revealing just how broken up and torn apart she was from within, "I'll stay on this side of town and look for Timmy here."

Cosmo was satisfied. He knew then that she wasn't going to stop him. He knew he really needed this, and he needed to keep his distance for a while to figure things out by himself.

Suddenly, Anti-Wanda moved away from Anti-Cosmo's side and flew into the air towards Cosmo. She was cautious when she approached him, but Cosmo felt no need to object to her company. However, Anti-Cosmo struggled to his feet, and held his hand over his broken head as he desperately called after her.

"Anti-Wanda, where are you going..."

"I can't leave Cosmo's side. Jorgen will find us if I do. Remember?" She said rigidly, and turned her head slightly towards him to avoid his gaze. She knew he still had a hold on her, so it was easier on her if she didn't look him in the eyes.

"Alright, then I'll come with you."

"No." She said simply.

Anti-Cosmo almost stumbled backwards in surprise by how serious she was. He knew he'd hurt her, and he was prepared to face whatever he had to to make up for the damage he'd caused her, but he assumed from the way that she was caring for him that she'd stay by his side. However, the way that she gave him the cold shoulder as he attempted to run after her had proven him wrong. He almost choked.

Anti-Cosmo desperately looked over to Cosmo, who was staring back at him. Cosmo's eyes matched Anti-Wanda's in so many ways. There was so much hurt in them, and a vast emptiness that was terrifying him. Although Anti-Cosmo truly hated Cosmo with a burning passion, he couldn't deny Anti-Wanda anything that she wanted. If she wanted to go along with Cosmo, he couldn't find it within him to refuse her wishes. She had a hold on him as much as he had a hold of her.

So, he stepped back obediently. He wanted her to see that he was willing to give her anything she wanted, even her freedom, because he wanted to consider her feelings first.

_I love her... and although I want her to come back to me... I have to face the consequences of what I've done._

"I need to be alone, too." Anti-Wanda said with a stone face, "I... don't know when I'll be back."

..._no!_

Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo leapt forward, and grabbed a hold of her hand. She turned around in shock as her eyes widened, and met with his desperate gaze as he looked like he was hanging off of her in the air.

"Those two may be okay with being away from each other, but I don't want you to leave me!" His voice was filled with nothing but anguish as his hand squeezed on to hers as tightly as he could, and he almost choked out, "Anti-Wanda, please... tell me you'll come back to me."

Sadness took over her expression as she pressed her blue lips together in despair. She slipped her hand away from his, and left a small rip between them as she did this. And she slowly shook her head.

"Just give me time, okay?" Anti-Wanda told him softly, "That's all I'm asking for."

Anti-Cosmo felt as if he was drowning. There wasn't anything more he could do or say, nothing at all. This was his punishment and he had to accept it. And so, he took one last longing gaze at her with an agonising expression on his face, before stepping aside to restrain himself from grabbing a hold of her once again.

"Okay." He barely sounded out as he hid his face in the darkness.

He squeezed his hands into fists by his sides as he found it incredibly difficult to keep himself planted to the spot so he wasn't tempted to follow after her. He knew he had to respect her wishes, he knew that she had to make her own decisions in life, no matter how much he objected to it, but he couldn't deny his overbearing need for her to stay by his side. He thought in misery,

_It's my punishment... and I have to deal with the terms._

As Anti-Wanda hovered close by Cosmo, indicating that she was ready to leave, Cosmo held his wand out to poof them away from the scene...

"Wait a second."

Wanda protested once more and held her hands up in protest. She felt her heart plunge once again as Cosmo seemed to looked towards her with frustration. She hesitated before throwing away her misery for a moment, and she spoke up at last,

"Cosmo, I still love you. I'll always love you. I just want you to know that while you're being... alone."

A tiny glimmer of emotion shot quickly through his eyes before it diminished again, and he left her with a barren stare.

A short silence fell over them again, and the tension in the air was thick. Wanda had hoped that perhaps a reminder to him of her feelings would comfort him during any dark periods of his journey. She had hope that he will still feel the same way towards her at the end of all this, and even dared to leave him with a small smile pulling on her rose lips. It was a sad smile, but nonetheless she wanted to show him that she still had faith in them both.

_Everything's going to be okay, I know it will._

Cosmo quickly looked away from her, feeling as if he couldn't take the torment of being with Wanda anymore. He knew that if she kept smiling to him like that, he'd feel compelled to stay with her, and all of this would have been for nothing. There were so many things to reflect on, so much that needed to be brought to light, and he felt like he'd be a fool to ignore it all now.

So, before he succumbed to his temptation, his wand started to glow into a brilliant golden light, and finally enveloped him and Anti-Wanda into a cloud of green smoke. Wanda and Anti-Cosmo turned to watch the smoke vanish into the night air, keeping their gazes on the last bit of lingering dust that was left behind...

...until they were gone.

…


	7. Act Seven

...

_Act Seven: _Hollow

...

Wanda and Anti-Cosmo stood in silence for a brief moment, letting the gravity of the situation gradually fall on them. There was no denying that they were both in the red in their own relationships, and they couldn't bare to think what this possibly meant for their marriages. But the possible outcomes of all this was too much to even consider...

Wanda took a very long and deep breath through her nose, and heavily exhaled as she restarted her train of thought. As she made sure that she had finally steadied her emotional state, she turned back to Anti-Cosmo and told him,

"Well, we better keep moving."

Anti-Cosmo wasn't sure whether or not to take Wanda's calm demeanour as a warning sign for what was to come. He'd experienced her enough by now to realise that Wanda is the kind of person to keep her most intense personal feelings bottled up inside. It wasn't healthy. And when Wanda floated past Anti-Cosmo without turning her head, moving onwards towards the dark road, a shiver went down Anti-Cosmo's spine. It was incredibly eerie. But he had no choice but to stick alongside her and follow her on her search for Timmy.

For the first part of their continued journey, they were almost always in a deafening silence. They couldn't find it within them to speak just yet. There was so many worrying thoughts running through their minds, even through Anti-Cosmo's despite his current mental state, and a creeping void of dread consistently lingered in their chests over the matters regarding their spouses.

So as they rounded further down the road, approaching an empty desert land littered with power lines and street lights, Anti-Cosmo finally compelled himself to stop.

Wanda turned her head, her melancholy state hadn't diminished at all, and asked him unenthusiastically,

"What's the problem?"

Anti-Cosmo raised an eyebrow at her, as if she really needed to ask.

"I've blown it, Wanda." He said quietly, placing an idle hand over his head where he'd been injured, "When I was telling my wife the truth, I had all the right things I wanted to say to her in my head. But no matter how much I tried, they just didn't come out the way I hoped. Instead, I made things so much worse and I... I didn't handle it well at all."

"You think _you _didn't handle things well?" Wanda scoffed incredulously, "I handled the matters in the worst way imaginable. I insulted Cosmo, I yelled at him, lied to him and got himself hurt... then after all that I finally told him the truth. Oh God, I'm such a coward."

Anti-Cosmo lifted his head from his hand, slightly annoyed that Wanda had reverted the attention back to her when he finally wanted to stop and talk about how he had badly messed up. And out of spite, he quipped at her,

"You could have told him the truth before he went ahead and knocked me to the ground."

Wanda squared her eyes to him with intimidating intent, and Anti-Cosmo almost stepped back in defence before she could attack him like her husband had done. He decided that his physical well-being had been through more than enough for one day. And he sighed when he realised that looking back at the past won't change what's already been done.

"Look Wanda," Anti-Cosmo said while unintentionally sounding more stern than sensitive, "I already told you not to take on all of the burden. This whole situation is partly my fault..."

"Maybe it was all your fault." Wanda said bitterly as she crossed her arms.

"What?" Anti-Cosmo was more than ready to take on another argument, but his tired state stopped himself from stringing together all the insults that his small mind could muster. Instead he managed to shake his anger away and dared to be reasonable, "Oh c'mon, Wanda, you can't shift all the blame on to other people. I know you're upset and I know you don't like hearing when you're in the wrong, but you have to start admitting to your own mistakes if you want to make this situation any better."

Wanda was silent for a moment. She certainly was a stubborn, headstrong woman who always liked to feel in control, but it didn't change the fact that this idiotic counterpart of her husband was absolutely right. For a moment she flicked her eyes away from him, biting her lower lip hard as she lowered down her guard. Wanda still didn't trust him completely, especially after the last time she confided in him, but she had the sense to admit when she was being unreasonable.

"You're right, sorry." She admitted rather bashfully, looking to the side as she ran a hand down her pink curly hair falling over her shoulder, "I'm so exhausted, and now it's so late. I want to hope that Timmy is waiting for us at the train stop, I want to believe that Cosmo and I will come out stronger once all this is over, but... it's just that..."

"I know." Anti-Cosmo nodded, and a small smile of understanding appeared on his face, "We've both been through a lot today. It's hard to keep it up for much longer."

Wanda had to agree in silence, but her remaining courage didn't allow her to give up so easily.

"But we have to keep going!" Wanda suddenly said boldly, "Timmy needs us!" And quickly, she turned on her heal with determination to continue down the road.

Anti-Cosmo followed after her again, feeling very physically fatigued as well as emotionally drained, and lagged behind her a little. Meanwhile Wanda had pinned all of her hope on finding Timmy at the train stop, mustering all her strength to keep going with her head held high, and it did admittedly help somewhat that Anti-Cosmo was there with her. Misery loves company, she found.

"Thanks," she stated without turning towards Anti-Cosmo, who had snapped his attention to her when he heard the most unlikely words come from her, "I know I can be a little difficult to be around sometimes. I really appreciate you knocking me back down to size when I need it."

"It's the least I can do. I haven't exactly been a pleasant experience for you either." Anti-Cosmo said with a little apologetic smile, "Once this is all over, I promise I'll get back to my usual sunny disposition while taking over the Earth."

"Jerk." Wanda managed to laugh despite the sombre atmosphere.

But as their laughter died down, so did their smiles. It was hard to keep up their spirits when they knew that everything was certainly not fine. They carried on down the road side by side in the darkness, looking left and right for any sign of Timmy or any sign at all, but they always came up short. It was only a matter of time until they reached their desired destination.

The train stop. They both hoped with all their being that Timmy would be safe in the shelter, bundled up and possibly sleeping soundly on the overgrown seats, waiting to be rescued.

…

Cosmo and Anti-Wanda stopped to take a break from searching for Timmy on their side of the city. Instead, they'd found a very dark and empty beach, discarded from any signs of life and light. It was almost beautiful how the sea had taken up most of the sand, the waves calmly brushing against the board-walk and the moon glistening from above and highlighting the far off horizon.

Anti-Wanda followed Cosmo as he flew over the sea, finding a hidden area filled with rocks and boulders enveloped by the waves of the sea. He perched on a slanting rock above the crashing waves, bringing one leg up to his chest and letting the other dangle over the edge. But Anti-Wanda was even more fascinated by the sea. It wasn't often that she got to see what life on Earth was like, especially at night when no one was around, and it was a beautiful sight to see nature alive with activity.

She cautiously approached the water after she took off her shoes and rolled up her trousers, and carefully dipped her feet into the cold water. She yelped in surprise by the icy temperature and flew high into the air, causing Cosmo to laugh from afar as she shivered in shock.

"Try again, you'll get used to it." He baited her on, daring to smile widely to her.

Anti-Wanda nodded warily before descending near the surface once more, wincing a little as she lowered herself in. She shouted out in horror when the waves moved over her bare legs.

"It's so cold!" She squeaked, but she refused to remove herself out the water just yet.

"Stay there a little longer, it'll take time to adjust but you'll be fine." Cosmo called to her with an amused smile, but it gradually faded away as the context of his words hit him a lot harder than he intended them to be. "You'll be fine..."

Anti-Wanda looked over to him, noticing how his tone of voice had diminished. Suddenly the temperature of the water didn't seem to matter to her at all.

"It'll be fine... that's what I kept telling myself, anyway." Cosmo lamented quietly to himself, refusing to look Anti-Wanda in the eye, "I thought everything would be fine, you know, after wishing that I'd be intelligent. I kept hoping that the further the day went on, once everyone had time to adjust to it and when I could finally prove to be of use to everyone, things would turn out alright. Instead, it's only made things a whole lot worse. I hadn't imagined it would get as bad as this."

Anti-Wanda idly kicked the water around as she carefully listened to him, casually splashing the sea around with her feet while her hands were tightly clamped behind her back.

"I really hate being smart." Cosmo came to realise, "I'm always... _thinking_. I don't know how normal people usually deal with it. And I certainly don't know how Wanda does it. Every second that goes by, there's always something to consider or reconsider, there's something that needs to be analysed or researched. So many things to wonder about, so many worrying thoughts that pass through my mind, and it's driving me insane!"

Cosmo messed up his hair in frustration and stopped when he heard Anti-Wanda audibly gasp from afar.

"Is that possible?" Anti-Wanda asked him impressively, "Can you think of that many things at the same time?"

"It's maddening." Cosmo confirmed as he placed his palm against his head, sighing with exhaustion as he looked to the skies, "I wish I could go back to how I used to be. I never thought I'd say this but... I really miss having a one-track mind."

Cosmo laughed at himself, despite feeling nothing but resentment over what he had done to himself.

"It's not so bad." Anti-Wanda said casually as she brushed her fingers along the surface of the water. "I've never really thought being dumb was a hindrance." Then her voice went quieter as she wondered to herself, "Maybe it's because Anti-Cosmo never made me feel like it was."

Cosmo grimaced as another dreadful thought came to him, "I wonder if that's why Wanda was so drawn to him. Your Anti-Cosmo. Now he acts like how I used to." He exclaimed incredulously with a shake of his head, "He seems so simple and carefree, just like I was, and Wanda always said that it was nice to be around someone like that. Then during our argument she said that I changed. And that... I'm not the same guy she loves anymore."

Cosmo looked below him, peering at his reflection sadly gazing back at him. It was a strange experience to him, to see himself as he's always known him to be... but also to feel like somebody else. He felt betrayed by his own emotions, and felt an unrelenting remorse for himself as he felt as if he'd lost the person he used to be.

Anti-Wanda silently crouched down in the sea, dipping her hand into the surface to create ripples stringing off of her fingers. She didn't dare to interrupt Cosmo as he continued,

"Was that right of her to think so? Shouldn't Wanda just accept me as I want to be?" Cosmo wondered aloud, but his lack of faith in himself kicked him down even further as he continued, "Or was it wrong of me to drastically change so much without regarding Wanda at all. Am I wrong about changing myself from the man I used to be..."

Anti-Wanda felt the waves hit the back of her knees as she ventured further down the way. As she did, she was thinking exactly the same about her and Anti-Cosmo. Was she simply being too careless about what Anti-Cosmo might have been feeling about all this? She didn't think that he'd have changed so drastically in one night, perhaps his feelings for her did the same. And since he'd been around Wanda the most throughout this experience, she wondered if it was sufficient enough time to be attracted to her. Anti-Cosmo wasn't smart anymore, but Wanda still was. Perhaps he became attracted to that...

However Anti-Wanda trusted her own beliefs, as her instincts were the only reliable source to go on, and so she noted how genuinely regretful Anti-Cosmo sounded when he admitted kissing another woman to her. Although it didn't change the fact that she was devastated after learning about it.

"I think... it's the right thing to do when you admit your wrongs... if that makes sense." Anti-Wanda said as she tilted her head whilst drawing a line in the surface of the water with her finger, "If something feels wrong to you, then accept that it is wrong. It's a brave thing to do, especially when you want to believe with all your heart that it's right."

Cosmo wondered for a moment if this really was true to how he felt. And, strangely, it was. Cosmo wanted nothing more than to believe that everything can be better once he became smarter. He wanted to believe this so much that he completely neglected how uneasy he felt throughout the entire experience. Ever since the start of the wish, he could feel something was off. He wasn't his usual self anymore. Wanda and Timmy could see that, but Cosmo refused to acknowledge it at all.

He knew now that he had to finally admit it to himself.

_I don't want to be smart. It feels wrong... so, so wrong..._

After realising this, somehow Cosmo didn't feel so bad. It was true what Anti-Wanda said, it was a brave thing to do to finally confront your beliefs and admit that if it doesn't feel right, then you should accept that it isn't. Yet he didn't feel disappointed about it. Anti-Wanda had explained it so beautifully and helped Cosmo finally see clearly. And he felt free.

Cosmo felt courageous and dignified. He could even feel the temptation of smiling to himself as his chest felt a little lighter. And then he thought he knew what he must do...

"I have to return to my former self." Cosmo said aloud with determination, "It was foolish of me to even think that all my problems could be solved with a personality change. Being smart isn't who I am, and I'm okay with that! I need to go back to normal. I need to be myself!" Cosmo exclaimed as his voice had risen with excitement, floating up on to his feet and lifting his head in the air.

Anti-Wanda was incredibly impressed with how perked up he seemed after all of this. She smiled from ear to ear when she watched Cosmo beam with confidence now, furrowing his eyebrows as he continued to contemplate to himself. Anti-Cosmo's traits were shining through again, and Anti-Wanda refused to even acknowledge the comparisons anymore. This time, she was just happy that Cosmo was dragging himself out of his miserable state.

Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Cosmo's expression fell quickly as he drifted back to the Earth. Anti-Wanda figured that another dreadful thought must have crossed his mind.

"Yes, I need to return to my normal, stupid, flawed, annoying self." Cosmo said with depletion. He rubbed his hands over his face in frustration, "Ugh, this is all hopeless. I mean I made this silly wish because I was tired of how dumb and useless I used to be! If I simply go back to that, what was all of this for?" Cosmo sighed as he sat back down on the teetering rock, gazing blankly back up to the glowing moon above him, "Am I really going to be stranded in this unhappy limbo for the rest of my life?"

Cosmo felt stuck. With or without intelligence, he still felt like a hopelessly useless character. It simply seemed like he brought misfortune wherever he went, and he had no other choice but to accept that. And perhaps this meant that true happiness and self-worth was completely out of reach for him.

But before Cosmo could think further about what the future really holds for him, another sudden thought popped up in his mind. He raised a skeptical eyebrow to Anti-Wanda and said almost sarcastically,

"Wait a minute," he said as he locked eyes with her, "Since when does an evil anti-fairy have a grip on what's really right and wrong?"

Anti-Wanda replied with an innocent and cheery smile, "Since I accepted that it felt wrong of me to do good things."

The way she had popped her head up with a straight and honest answer had almost stunned Cosmo into silence. Until his face broke and he couldn't help but laugh to himself,

"Right. I should have known." He said with an incredulous smile on his face.

Anti-Wanda tilted her head in confusion. As usual, she was unsure whether what she said was really intended to be funny or not. But as she shrugged it off, she drifted her eyes away from Cosmo and followed the ripples of the waves crashing against the rocks in thought. She wondered aloud after clearing her throat,

"Right now, it feels like what Anti-Cosmo told me was wrong... but not in the way I thought before. I thought that he honestly did, um, you know... fall in love with Wanda," Anti-Wanda coughed awkwardly as the distasteful notion passed her mind, "But maybe that was just an assumption. He didn't tell me that he has, he just said that he... kissed her. So, I don't know, maybe he really was just a victim of circumstance." Her eyes shot back to Cosmo with a sudden sparkle of hope brightening up her expression, "Maybe this has all just been a misunderstanding!"

"That's doubtful," Cosmo said bitterly, sharing his extreme distaste for Anti-Cosmo very openly to her without thinking. When he noticed that Anti-Wanda flinched at this, Cosmo pressed his lips together as he regretted saying it as bluntly as he did, "Sorry. I don't mean to put you down Anti-Wanda, but this is something that he can't simply be forgiven for."

Anti-Wanda felt a little hurt from having her faint sense of hope so cruelly shot down. As she collected her thoughts, she turned to her side and pouted with annoyance. She had a little more faith in her husband than Cosmo did, and she certainly didn't appreciate him giving her husband the benefit of the doubt.

And, like a child, she continued to pout and kick the water around in a sulk before speaking up once more. Only this time, she decided to help Anti-Cosmo's case by being a little more truthful about herself and her past intentions. She attempted to mask how truthful she was going to be with a childish, spiteful tone of voice as she told him,

"Y'know Cosmo, it's not like I haven't thought of doing something similar with you."

"What, you thought about kissing me?" Cosmo said dismissively with a doubtful eyebrow raised up.

Anti-Wanda felt a little more bashful as Cosmo had said it out loud and so bluntly, it almost threw her off. But as her cheeks flushed into a bright shade of red, and as she frowned from having to admit to something she didn't like, she told Cosmo quietly,

"Well, yes... I have thought of that."

In an instant, the atmosphere changed.

Cosmo's first reaction was, surprisingly, his face filling up into a blush just as Anti-Wanda had done. He'd never had this kind of attention from a girl other than from Wanda, so it felt a little like he had reverted back to his awkward stage of his life.

So as he uncomfortably turned away from Anti-Wanda for a moment, he tried to calm himself by avoiding her gaze and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. He had to concentrate on thinking rationally. Cosmo knew of Anti-Wanda's growing feelings for him earlier, and he knew that she was simply confused because Cosmo had started to resemble her husband. He knew this, so he was determined to set the record straight.

Cosmo turned back to Anti-Wanda, boldly locking his eyes to hers to assert his authority. Anti-Wanda almost jumped out of her skin by how serious he had suddenly become, definitely just as Anti-Cosmo would do when he was all business, and she felt her head burn up even more.

"This is different." Cosmo told her sternly, "We haven't done anything because we know that we don't feel that way about each other. I actually intended on telling this to you earlier, but Anti-Cosmo interrupted me. So there you go." Cosmo looked at her more softly now, but his gaze was distant from her, "It's too obvious to me, even now, that we're completely devoted to our partners. That's just something that'll never change, no matter what turmoil we've landed in."

They exchanged glances of understanding and despair before looking away down to the water, their reflections becoming less muddled and erratic as the waves died down a little. It's as if the world had quietened down around them. As they became motionless, so did the Earth.

"I know that." Anti-Wanda finally spoke up, though her voice was barely a whisper, "Cosmo, I look at you and I don't see you. When you say smart things, when you ponder your thoughts, the image of Cosmo just seems to disappear. You look as serious and ambitious as he does, you do little things that he would do without thinking and... and... oh man, I'm ashamed of myself every time. But... sometimes, I can't help it. You take the form of my husband and I look at you like I would look at him. It's really hard... to see the face of the man I love and then realise he's not really there."

Anti-Wanda grabbed her arms timidly, feeling completely humiliated with herself by her lack of self-control. She felt so guilty, her face clearly crestfallen by all of this, as she shivered from the icy waters circling around her legs.

Cosmo didn't know what to say at first. He never really considered the fact that maybe Anti-Wanda knew about what she was doing. He didn't realise that perhaps it affected her more than he even realised. And as he slightly sighed dejectedly, he smiled sympathetically to her, shrugging his shoulders a little as he said,

"Don't you think you're being a little too hard on yourself? After all, if you didn't love Anti-Cosmo as much as you do, you wouldn't be so desperate to see him so much in me. Right?" Cosmo paused as he saw that Anti-Wanda didn't look all that convinced, so he was determined to continue, "You see only the parts you want to see. You notice all the little things that Anti-Cosmo does that separates him from the rest. And do you know why you notice these little things? It's because you treasure them. You want to know all about him, so you pay attention to him out of anyone else. To be quite honest with you Anti-Wanda, you're only problem here is that you love him too much."

Anti-Wanda managed to laugh as she wiped a small tear that escaped out of the corner of her eye.

Cosmo really did help put things in a better light for Anti-Wanda. For a moment, she really didn't feel as bad about it all anymore. Perhaps Cosmo's perceptiveness hadn't been clouded at all by his intelligence. And perhaps, she wondered, it made it better for him to put his optimism into words. He was a very cheerful guy before all this, so it made sense that after his wish it would become easier for him to put all his positivity into words. Anti-Wanda was incredulous, but most of all appreciative of all this.

"Thanks." She said sincerely, taking a moment to sniff and swallow her grateful tears before turning back to Cosmo with a genuine smile on her face, "If you weren't such a goody two-shoes, we'd actually make great friends."

Cosmo smirked as he crossed his arms, masking how humbled he felt with a mischievous tone,

"If you weren't so evil, I'd have considered that."

Anti-Wanda laughed with a large toothy smile, playfully skimming her hand over the sea and splashing water unexpectedly over Cosmo. He laughed at her while shielding himself from getting totally soaked with his arms.

They were both grateful for how light-hearted they could get from the overwhelming support they offered each other. At heart, they really were two kids who just needed a friend to talk to when things got rough. It didn't seem like things could get rougher than where they were at, and once Anti-Wanda had remembered this, her laughter died down as she concentrated once again on drawing ripples on the water with her finger. Softly, she said aloud,

"Maybe Anti-Cosmo and Wanda felt that way about each other too. They saw bits of you and me in both of them, and there was a confusing moment where they acted upon their feelings. Wanda must've seen you in Anti-Cosmo and he must've seen me in Wanda. And then that lead them to... to, um..." Anti-Wanda stopped herself before any disturbing images appeared in her mind, and she shook her head to restart her train of thought, "Anyway, I... I believe what Anti-Cosmo told me. He said he was stupid... and drunk... so it must have been a lapse of stupidity on his part... and he really doesn't feel anything for Wanda."

"Good for you, Anti-Cosmo's an idiot. But what about Wanda?" Cosmo said harshly, feeling less than satisfied by this notion and became a lot more agitated by it, "She's certainly not stupid, so she has no excuse to fall back on. She willing kissed him so she knew full well what she was doing. She... she must have _some _feelings for him... surely..."

Cosmo felt as if he could feel his heart sink in his chest. It was as if he felt a hollow emptiness within him, and he became numb with a consistent pain rooting him to where he sat. He couldn't feel the motivation to move, the effort to blink, as if there was an unrelenting heaviness that pushed him down to the ground and he felt unwilling to fight against him.

Anti-Cosmo had bested him in almost every trial they've ever faced, so perhaps he's also succeeded in taking Wanda away from him too. It was a devastating thought, it was terrifying to experience the reality of that, and it felt as if half of him had been ripped apart from him. Cosmo certainly didn't want to lose Wanda, but he couldn't help the horrifying feeling that he really has this time...

"Cosmo, I'll be honest with you," Anti-Wanda said softly as she could, and as she looked at him gently she felt as if she was looking into cold, lifeless eyes, "I'll admit I don't know much about Wanda and I don't really know what kind of person she is... well, I'll also admit that I'm not crazy about finding out after she kissed my husband, but if she really was the smart one out of us both then she'd know better than to leave someone like you."

Cosmo's sorrowful eyes matched up with Anti-Wanda's. She swallowed a hard gulp as she noticed just how empty his eyes looked. But as he attempted to take comfort in her words, he looked away once again as his cynical pondering dragged him away from any kind of hope he had left. Anti-Wanda didn't give up trying to console him yet,

"And it seemed to me that she was really fearful of losing you after she admitted what she'd done. After all, she was brave enough to tell you the truth. Maybe she wanted you to know that she's willing to share anything with you, even if it was something that would create an obstacle in your relationship." Anti-Wanda said before exclaiming sympathetically, "Before we left, she said that she loves you. After everything that's happened... do you believe that she does?"

Cosmo remained silent for a little while, wondering whether or not he was brave enough to give that some very serious thought. He was afraid of what he might conclude in the end, or if he ends up believing only what he _wants _to believe. Then he sourly remembered what Anti-Wanda told him earlier. If something feels wrong, then admit it...

_Am I really brave enough to admit that I don't feel that Wanda really loves me?_

"I think... I need a little more time on this." Cosmo said reluctantly, feeling the pain in his chest throb a lot worse than his aching back, "I can't bring myself to forgive her just yet... and there's still a few things I need to work out myself... I guess, I'm still hurting a lot."

"Ouch, me too!" Anti-Wanda cried out when she suddenly leapt into the air after being stung on the foot by an unsuspecting jellyfish.

Despite the heavy atmosphere around him, Cosmo couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter. Anti-Wanda grabbed at her injured foot, fanning it with her hands as if that were to help the pain go away, while Cosmo grabbed at his stomach in an attempt to withhold his uncontrollable laughter.

Once he had managed to calm down a little, his smile remained as his sides still felt tickled by how Anti-Wanda would angrily splash water towards the jellyfish in revenge... as if water was meant to harm it in any way.

And as Cosmo looked over to the vastly darkened horizon, as he strongly wished for Timmy's safety, Cosmo couldn't help but stifle his bitterness for a moment as he wondered with a longing gaze if Wanda was looking at the same starry sky.

…


	8. Act Eight

...

_Act Eight: _Destructive Intent

...

Unbeknownst to Cosmo, Wanda was in fact looking up at the stars just as he was. The only difference between them was Wanda who gazed up at the sky from an angle. She was laying spread across the train tracks beside the abandoned train stop as she gazed vacantly up at the stars that cruelly winked back at her.

A few minutes earlier, Wanda had finally reached the train stop along with Anti-Cosmo after painstakingly walking all the way there. Wanda had pinned all of her hopes on the fact that Timmy would be there, patiently waiting for them to take him home. She approached the train stop as she attempted to fight off the hopeful grin on her face and ran to only source of light coming from a cracked street light over the area. Then as she turned around the corner, expecting to see the tiny figure of Timmy waiting for her there, she was shot down in an instant.

Timmy wasn't there.

The location was as desolate as it had ever been. There were no sounds of life, no crickets chirping, no wind whistling through the rotten remains of the train stop and certainly no sound from Timmy.

After discovering this, Wanda felt no hope. She felt something snap inside her, as if the last remaining string that held her together had broken apart, and she was left with no faith in the situation at all. So she solemnly took to the rusted train tracks and soundlessly lay herself across them. Even as she felt the cold metal railing bite at her bare skin, she couldn't feel anything. Her heart had sank for the last time. She felt helpless, alone, useless...

And for a brief terrifying moment, she wondered what might happen if her useless immortal life had ended right then. She asked herself what difference it would make upon the world if she finally met with the possibility of death taking a hold of her, and asked if she would simply be another small blip on the radar that would suddenly fade away.

Wanda's eyes flew open as her body refused to move a muscle, and a horrifying thought came to her.

_I could do it now, if I wanted._

Wanda had the power within her to do so. She could make a train appear out of nowhere without a second thought. All she had to do with flick her wrist, let her wand do its magic and in a few short moments, Wanda would be...

Quickly, Wanda threw her arm over her face, disturbed by this discovery she has made. Never in all of her life had she been so hopelessly overwhelmed that she considered the possibility of her own demise. She bit down on her lip hard to stop herself from screaming. This prompted her to reflect on the responsibility she had of wielding infinite power in her hands. She could cause so much damage to herself just as much as the damage she could cause upon the world. And then, she reluctantly had to wonder...

_Have I already damaged the world with my power?_

At that point, she resented all of her magical abilities within her. She choked down the desperate cries threatening to burst from her throat as she was disgusted to call herself a fairy, and then she doubted her own experience as a godmother.

Meanwhile, Anti-Cosmo stood on the platform nearby, cautiously hovering overhead as he watched Wanda completely ignore his existence. He hadn't said anything to her for a while, and he'd hoped for her to tell him their next plan of action since it appeared that Timmy wasn't at the train stop like she had anticipated. But he simply watched her as Wanda silently lay down on the train tracks and shut him out completely. Anti-Cosmo's eyebrow raised after he noticed she had a habit of doing that whenever she was distressed.

However, the way that Wanda had completely shut down on him had him slightly worried. He didn't like being out of the loop, especially when he didn't know how to think of a way around this, so he carefully leaned over the platform towards her.

"Wanda? What are you doing?" Anti-Cosmo asked her cautiously as he adjusted his monocle.

When he didn't receive any answer, Anti-Cosmo was instantly on edge. Suddenly he was on his own again, and the person he had been forced to rely on wasn't responding to him. Anti-Cosmo found himself completely lost on what is going on. He took a shot in the dark as he anxiously spoke up,

"Y'know, I don't think you can catch a train that way," Anti-Cosmo's voice broke as he said this when he realised that he had no confidence in what he said, and quickly looked to the distance in case there was anything coming, "Or can you?"

To the best of his remaining knowledge, Anti-Cosmo knew that laying in front of a train wasn't the correct way to get on top of it, but as Wanda continued to ignore him Anti-Cosmo began to question himself. Once he figured it would be better to be safe than sorry, he crept off of the platform and made his way to the train tracks. He couldn't quite figure out why Wanda would want to lay down here, the train tracks were rusted and covered in overgrown foliage, he couldn't imagine the tracks to be comfortable at all. But he held his breath and hesitantly crouched down, slowly laying himself down beside Wanda.

Anti-Cosmo watched the starry sky and wondered why the sky was so curious to her, only to find she still had her arm laid across her eyes. He learnt by now not to prompt Wanda with any more questions, knowing by now that she had trouble trusting him at all. So he fidgeted around with his thumbs and patiently waited for her to take a minute to compose herself.

The stars were beautiful anyway, Anti-Cosmo thought as he gazed back up to them. Far away from any city light pollution, he could see far off into the galaxy. These were the moments that reminded Anti-Cosmo why he would love to take control of this beautiful planet. And instead of devising detailed plots of world domination in his mind, he simply looked up at the stars and took in the view. It was strange, he found, that the less he could think about anything then the more his mind had opened up. It was an interesting perspective that almost made him grin at the irony of it all.

"How could one little wish cause all of this chaos in one night?" Wanda finally said, causing Anti-Cosmo to jump.

As he realised Wanda was ready to talk to him, he calmed down his fast beating heart and looked again to the skies. He placed his hands behind his head as he thought of a way to reply, and he ended up saying whatever came to his mind first,

"It's actually easier than you think to set off all this drama in a short amount of time." Anti-Cosmo said bluntly and shrugged as if it was no big deal, "Earth is already chaotic. All it really needs is a little push to get things rolling."

Wanda turned over to him to scowl, "That's not very comforting."

"I'm just telling you the truth." Anti-Cosmo told her defensively, yet he was tempted to laugh at the irony of how it was just as easy to set off Wanda's temper.

Yet he was surprised when he found her sighing as she cooled herself down. Anti-Cosmo was a little startled when he found she wasn't shouting his ear off at this point, but then he noticed a change in her. Now, he realised, Wanda was more willing to back down and listen rather than resort to her anger.

Anti-Cosmo was grateful for this. Wanda was beginning to change, and she was able to change because she finally recognised her faults and became willing to work on them. Wanda had taken a deep breath and returned to her melancholy thoughts.

"It's true though, isn't it?" Wanda whispered dejectedly, "This world is chaotic. The people are chaotic. And it's not far from the truth about fairies. We're just as chaotic as the human race."

Wanda sighed again as she fought the urge to pass out, and her gruff voice was so drained that even Anti-Cosmo, as dumb as he was, could tell immediately how exhausted she was.

"It's actually frightening to know that fairies wield an infinite amount of power. They could use this power to contort everything anyone had ever knew about the world. I mean, whose to know if the human race would've been better off without the interference of fairies?" Wanda dropped her wand as if she were too disgusted with herself to even hold it, "We have such a tight bond with so many important figures and events that took place here. After all these interventions... could we be the cause of all that's wrong with this world?"

Anti-Cosmo immediately sat up and scoffed at her, then waved his hand dismissively at the thought.

"Please, Wanda. You're insulting my pride." Anti-Cosmo snapped at her, catching Wanda by surprise by this sudden sarcastic animosity from him, "May I remind you that it's the anti-fairies' job to create the messes on Earth? And it's the fairies' job to clean it up. I'm actually surprised Wanda, I thought you'd have known your place by now."

Wanda took a moment to remember that she's in the company of her husband's evil half. Suddenly, she laughed out loud from having forgotten that and had startled Anti-Cosmo, who was expecting her to lose her temper twice as much as before. As much as Wanda appreciated the comforting words from, it was still something she hadn't quite expected to hear as a reply, and it was surprisingly hilarious to her.

"I do know my place, Anti-Cosmo," she teased him with a grin as she sat up next to him, and greeted him with a playful light tap on his arm, "I'm just better at my job than you. How's the world domination coming along, by the way?"

"Facing a couple of annoying interferences, thanks to a certain identical duo." Anti-Cosmo replied coldly as he defensively rubbed his arm where she had tapped him.

Wanda's grin faded away once again as her gaze wandered off towards the empty train stop, and she watched the street light above it flickering on and off. The entire area was eerily quiet all around them as the light blinked at them like a neon light. It was like a sombre reminder to her that this was no time to be laughing, and she felt her heart plummet at the thought.

"As much as I'd like to believe that our hearts are in the right place, is it right for the fairies to intervene like this? Are we really making a difference here on Earth?" Wanda asked quietly as she uncomfortably tucked her pink curls behind one ear. She brought her knees up to her chest, and timidly hugged herself as she whispered, "Or are we causing much more damage than it's worth?"

Anti-Cosmo frowned. He didn't like what Wanda was implying at all, and found himself getting more irritated over that than he expected to be. He definitely didn't want to get on Wanda's bad side again, and for a moment he stopped himself from saying anything at all by turning himself away from her, but his internal struggle was short-lived.

Suddenly, he picked himself up on his feet and turned his gaze to Wanda who stared back in surprise. His hardened stare at her was cold, and furious.

"I don't think you're getting just how good you have it, Wanda!" Anti-Cosmo told her sharply, deciding to speak before he thought once again, "For God's sake, I'm supposed to be the idiot here! How are you not able to see the full picture here?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Wanda asked and backed off slightly from Anti-Cosmo as she felt almost intimidated by him.

Anti-Cosmo didn't intend to swallow his bitterness, and as he managed to tap back into his evil personality, he towered over Wanda to assert his domineering position over her. He queried her intensely,

"What is your job here on Earth exactly?"

"You know what I do here," Wanda told him defensively as she worked up the courage to overcome his interrogation, "I'm a fairy godmother..."

"And what does your job entail?" He fiercely hurried her.

Wanda was speechless by how aggressive Anti-Cosmo had become. She took a minute to even think of the answer before swallowing a nervous gulp. She dreaded where Anti-Cosmo was going with this.

"I grant wishes for kids..."

"Correction: you grant wishes for miserable kids to make their lives better."

Wanda's eyes widened. She certainly didn't expect him to be going in that direction. He almost sounded sincere.

Then, without any warning, Anti-Cosmo's sudden aggression cooled down once he crossed his arms. He retained his authoritative stance while avoiding eye contact with Wanda. Although he was being honest now, he didn't like how the truth sounded to him, and he sounded more respectful of her than anything else...

"You and Cosmo are here on Earth on a selfless mission to make the lives of unfortunate kids better. And what could give you a better feeling than knowing that you're making a huge positive difference to each and every one of their lives?"

Wanda couldn't speak.

As much as she wanted to interject with her own argument, she couldn't think of a counter. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew that Anti-Cosmo was right. And, even more surprising to her, she found that Anti-Cosmo was sincerely genuine about this. He continued to lecture her, reluctantly furthering his point as Wanda retained her silence,

"You... look after kids dealing with tough situations in an innocent part of their childhood." Then his voice grew unpredictably softer, "You really shouldn't feel so guilty for what is, essentially, the most generous and noble job in the universe."

Anti-Cosmo rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, he was obviously not used to be being so openly honest to anyone other than Anti-Wanda, and he didn't like how irreparably kind he was beginning to sound. But he couldn't stop himself as the more he spoke so openly about this, the more he realised how jealous he was of Cosmo and Wanda's position. Finally, he figured he may as well end his argument with the absolute truth, and turned towards her to make eye contact with her again.

Her eyes were frozen on his, and he earnestly spoke,

"I'd also like to remind you that it's a dream of mine to raise a child with Anti-Wanda. It would be... nice to understand the feeling of satisfaction when making a child happy. Not only that, but to take a child who has absolutely nothing and give them everything they could ever want would be the most gratifying experience to ever realise." Anti-Cosmo steadied his gaze on her, forcing her to see just how serious he was about this, "And sometimes, I wouldn't care if the child I raised wouldn't be up to my standards. I wouldn't care if they didn't want to rule the world or cause destruction and chaos, I wouldn't mind if I was given the most mild-mannered child on Earth... it would just be nice to be able to have that luxury of helping a lost little kid... with Anti-Wanda by my side."

Wanda... truly couldn't speak.

She hadn't a clue what to say at all. It was a complete surprise to her after learning why Anti-Cosmo was so ambitious to take the world for his own. But she was almost in shock. She didn't expect his determination to be so deep-seated. Wanda was a little afraid to speak up at all, as she feared he might come out with other secretly intense dreams and ambitions, but she also feared that she may inadvertently hurt him.

However, above all, she knew that this was just what she needed to hear. Wanda knew Anti-Cosmo was only being honest because that's what it all comes down to in the end. She has the better end of the deal, but she's too deep in her misery to realise this. And it took Anti-Cosmo, of all people, to pull her out of this rut and bring her back to the reality of the matter. Wanda was astounded to the point of losing her voice.

As moved as Wanda was by this, Anti-Cosmo still didn't like how he sounded, and defensively carried on,

"But, y'know, I only feel like that sometimes." He said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes almost comically, "You should know that the majority of my time is preoccupied with plans to take over the universe. I know where my priorities lie, so... don't get too ahead of yourself!"

Wanda snorted. Anti-Cosmo went from a serious tone to sulking like a child so quickly, she struggled to stifle a laugh.

"Right, sure." Wanda giggled before pressing her lips together.

But it was too late. The humour was too much, and she doubled over as bursts of laughter came over her. Anti-Cosmo sighed. Even he knew that he obviously tried too hard to sound convincing, and despite himself, he smirked at his own attempt. At least, he was relieved to realise, Wanda seemed to be more energetic this way.

Anti-Cosmo even found her laugh to be incredibly infectious. He found himself chuckling under his breath before the hilarity of this entire discussion caught up to him, and suddenly he found himself clutching his sides from how hard he was laughing alongside her. They were like two giggly children, rolling around the train tracks as the laughter was getting too much for them, and Wanda desperately wiped away the tears that built up in her eyes.

As she slowly regained her breath and her laughter faded away, she finally sat up from the train tracks. She looked to the sides of her and felt the cold metal train tracks tinge her finger tips. She winced at the biting temperature before realising how silly she was for even considering something like this. It was incredibly unlike her.

So, as if it were no big deal in the first place, Wanda got to her feet, gracefully hopped up in the air and flew on to the platform. She turned back to Anti-Cosmo who was still getting over his chuckling fit on the train tracks, and she grinned towards him.

"You're right, you know. I don't know how good I have it. I realise now that my happiness truly lies with my family and my kids. And I refuse to give them up just because of a little self-doubt." Wanda says with pure determination and clenched her fists by her sides, "I refuse to give up on Timmy like that. I've had it with these moments of weakness! Every time I let my guard down for even a moment, there's a chance that something awful will happen. I can't afford to trip up now, and I absolutely refuse to let myself stumble anymore!"

"That's the spirit." Anti-Cosmo cheered her on with a supportive punch into the air.

Wanda smiled more gently towards him as he said that, and ran her fingers through her hair before speaking up. She told him sincerely, and gratefully,

"Thanks. Once again, you've brought me down a few more pegs when I needed it."

"Personally, I could get used to that." Anti-Cosmo mischievously smirked at her, and she rolled her eyes with a sarcastic smile.

"Well then, I hope you enjoyed it because I'm not going to allow myself to wallow in self-pity from now on." Wanda grinned and triumphantly placed her fists on her sides, "I'll look over every inch of this world and turn it upside down if I have to in order to find my godson! I don't care how long it takes, I won't rest until he's safe!"

Wanda crouched down over the side of the platform, leveling herself to Anti-Cosmo's height as he rose up from the train tracks and kindly offered him her hand. Anti-Cosmo raised an eyebrow at this, but despite himself, smiled at the gesture anyway.

"Well c'mon," she told him gently, "I can't seem to get through this without your help."

"It seems that way, doesn't it?" He replied sincerely, and took her hand with another mischievous grin, "It seems to be your style to find an idiot to help you out of a crisis."

"True." She replied as she pulled him up on to the platform and looked at him with a guilty expression, yet she couldn't help herself from feeling giddily happy about that.

…

Meanwhile, over at the far end of the city, Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were continuously searching for Timmy down by the docks. Anti-Wanda found that she much preferred the beach scene to the docks, as the salty sea air seemed to be thicker and ripe with rotten fish. However, she refused to let the smells ruin her fun, and she dived inside of warehouses strewn along the board-walk. She loved to explore, she always found herself learning more and more interesting things about the human race this way, and she wasn't afraid to get involved in their society. So she boldly peered into discarded wooden boxes, broke into boats parked along the docks, and pried open any large crates to see what was hidden inside.

Cosmo was fine with this, as long as she wasn't creating too much sound to attract any unwanted attention, and she was actually combing the area a lot faster this way. He was disappointed to find not a trace of Timmy there at the docks, but he pressed on just in case he had missed anything. However, he shivered as he found the docks to be a lot more eerie at this time of night. The fog from the horizon had rolled in and it became a lot more difficult to see in the distance.

"Let's hurry up, Anti-Wanda, I don't want to stay here any longer than we need to be." Cosmo called out to her nervously.

When he heard no response from her, he turned on his heel instantly. Cosmo swallowed a hard gulp. There was nothing around him but thick fog and the blinking lights of dim lampposts strewn along the board-walk.

"Anti-Wanda?" Cosmo called out to her.

No answer once again.

"Anti-Wanda, where'd you go? If this is a game, it's _really _not funny!" Cosmo cried out to her more desperately this time.

He backed away from the fog surrounding the large empty warehouses as the wind whistled rather violently through their broken windows and created terrifying sounds inside them. He backed away towards the sea, scaring himself as he stepped on a very creaky board that snapped beneath his feet, and he jumped back when he heard it hit the water.

Then, he suddenly heard the sound of gurgling coming from the water beneath his feet. And as quickly as he heard it, he jumped into the air and stumbled backwards off his feet, shouting in surprise when he helplessly watched a large, slimy creature suddenly burst up in front of him and emerge from the waters.

Cosmo screamed for help as he scrabbled backwards on his hands and feet, keeping his eyes locked on the dark voids where the monster's piercing eyes would be, and cowered in fear when the monster menacingly towered over him. Cosmo felt it's slime drip on top of him and he shuddered from the familiarity of the texture.

Then, he realised, that it wasn't slime at all.

"Gotcha!" Anti-Wanda sang as she plucked the strands of seaweed off of Cosmo.

"Anti-Wanda!" Cosmo shouted in surprise. He scrambled back to his feet and shook off the seaweed as Anti-Wanda mercilessly laughed at him. "That wasn't funny at all."

"You should've seen your face!" Anti-Wanda laughed even harder as she wiped the seaweed off of her, grabbing at her stomach when the laughter was getting too much for her.

Cosmo snorted at first, then suddenly found himself to have let out a small laugh of his own. He couldn't quite stay mad at her for very long, especially since Anti-Wanda's laughter seemed to have an infectious effect and Cosmo wasn't immune to it, but he refrained himself from any kind of enjoyment as he realised that this sort of prank was more his style. He knew if he was there at the docks with Wanda, he'd have thought of a creative way to scare his wife in a similar fashion. It was interesting, to say the least, to see things from Wanda's perspective.

And although Cosmo wasn't the kind of person to hold a grudge against someone, especially about a harmless prank like that, he still couldn't find it within him to let himself go. He couldn't laugh out loud like he used to anymore. There was too much on his mind, there was so much to think about...

Cosmo quickly went from quietly chuckling to frowning, and silently resented what he had become.

Suddenly, Anti-Wanda's laughter fell into dead silence. Her whole body had frozen as she felt a deathly chill run down her spine. Cosmo noticed how quiet she had become all of a sudden, and before he could ask her what was wrong, Anti-Wanda jumped towards him. As she felt her courage return to her, she caught him by surprise by grabbing a hold of him.

"What? What is it?" Cosmo hurriedly asked her in bewilderment, feeling uncomfortable with having her as close as she was to him.

Anti-Wanda cowered her head behind him, and Cosmo was shocked to find that she was slightly shivering in terror. His shoulders fell as he let his guard down a little more, and made the decision to approach her more softly and cautiously than before.

"It's okay, you can tell me whatever it is. I won't get angry." He said gently as he tried to sound understanding.

"Um, can we leave now?" She asked nervously as her words stuttered through her chattering teeth.

Cosmo didn't expect an answer like that. But then he sighed to himself as he realised that she must be acting this way to scare him again,

"Anti-Wanda, that isn't going to work on me twice. So can you stop goofing around? You have to help me find Timmy..."

Cosmo was about to step away from her dismissively, but Anti-Wanda lunged herself to his back again.

"No! Wait!" She cried and grabbed on to his back, burying her face into the safety of his clothes, and lowered her stammering voice into barely a whisper, "I'm not playing this time! We have to go now!"

Cosmo almost stumbled backwards again by the way that Anti-Wanda had pulled him to her. He steadied his feet on the board-walk and nervously looked over his shoulder to her. He found that Anti-Wanda's hands that had desperately grabbed a fistful of Cosmo's clothes were visibly shaking in fear. He knew now that she wasn't joking.

_Is there something here that I can't sense?_

Cosmo's guard was up again as he held a hand out in front of Anti-Wanda protectively. The fog was thick and blurred his vision, and it was all the more difficult to make anything out, but he continued to squint his eyes in an effort to find anything that may be considered a threat to them. He looked every which was there was, and just before he figured he couldn't find anything at all, he was just able to make out a shadowy figure peering at them from the distance. It was moving slowly and erratically underneath the blinking light of one of the lampposts, swinging from side to side as the figure was gradually becoming larger and clearer.

Then the dark figure stopped for a moment. Cosmo was about to lean closer to get a better view of it, before he found it was reaching out a menacing looking darkened hand towards him, and a soft creaking and clinking sound echoed from it's feet. Then, in a low, surly voice, it sounded out,

"Anti-Cosmoooo..." The voice elongated his name as if it was trailing off into the night air.

Anti-Wanda squealed in pure terror and pulled down on Cosmo's clothes in fright, without realising that she was unknowingly strangling him with his own tie.

"Oh no! The sea monster's come for me!" She screamed as she forcefully grabbed hold of more of Cosmo's clothes.

"Anti-Wanda... you're... choking me..." Cosmo struggled to tell her.

Anti-Wanda gasped as she immediately realised what she was doing and let go, but she remained close behind him for protection. Cosmo breathed deeply as he grabbed his own throat, forgetting for a moment that they were out in the open as an unknown figure was gradually getting closer to them. The shadowy monster had gained some speed, and its size was getting terrifyingly larger.

Anti-Wanda squealed again, and shouted to Cosmo, "Do something! It's gonna eat us!"

Calmly and soundlessly, Cosmo placed a comforting hand on Anti-Wanda's shoulder and gestured her to keep quiet as he placed a finger to his lips. Suddenly, Anti-Wanda was drawn to a soft magical glow shining between them, and as she looked down she found Cosmo had used his wand without making a sound. Then, before she knew it, her form along with Cosmo's was changed into a wooden box, carefully placed alongside a pile of other discarded wooden boxes on the board-walk. They were perfectly disguised.

Cosmo knew this would work, since he had immediately worked out what this shadowy figure turned out to be.

As the figure stepped out into the open where the fog was beginning to roll away, it revealed itself to be a harmless drunk man stumbling his way through the docks, stepping erratically along the board-walk while dragging an empty bottle of vodka behind him. Anti-Wanda gasped as she discovered just how harmless this threat turned out to be, and tried her best to stifle her sighs of relief.

When the drunk man had made his way past them, being much too drunk to even notice that there were wooden boxes discarded there in first place, Cosmo and Anti-Wanda returned to their fairy forms and looked to each other in disbelief over what just happened. Anti-Wanda's skin was still a little pale from being as frightened as she was, and Cosmo couldn't help himself. He laughed at her, and laughed to the point of tears in his eyes.

"Look who got scared this time!" Cosmo chuckled at the irony of it, and Anti-Wanda spluttered in dismay. She pouted to him and crossed her arms, and made sure to turn her back to him in a huff.

"I wasn't scared. And that wasn't funny either!"

"Well you should've seen _your_ face." Cosmo laughed so hard, he had to clutch his side as he doubled over. Anti-Wanda rolled her eyes at him as her head flushed bright red with embarrassment.

Suddenly, a thought came to Cosmo that had him instantly stop in his tracks. Anti-Wanda curiously peered over her shoulder to him to find out why he had suddenly fallen silent, and was surprised to find that his face had immediately become frozen and pale. He looked petrified. Anti-Wanda forgot her irritation and went to ask what was wrong, until Cosmo cautiously approached her and whispered,

"Wait a minute... if that was a human... then what was calling Anti-Cosmo's name earlier?"

Anti-Wanda froze.

And suddenly, a booming voice sounded right behind them,

"Anti-Cosmo!"

As the fog rolled away from their feet, the clearance slowly revealed the large authoritative form of Jorgen Von Strangle, leering at them overhead.

Cosmo and Anti-Wanda shrieked in immediate surprise.

"What... how did you find us?!" Cosmo cried as he grabbed for Anti-Wanda's arm and backed away from him quickly, looking all the more dumbfounded as he looked over Jorgen's sudden appearance. He shook his head in disbelief, "The cloaking device has been turned on this entire time!"

"Yeah, it has!" Anti-Wanda fiercely backed him up, until she was inclined to notice just how anxious Cosmo sounded, and turned to him to nervously ask him, "...hasn't it?"

Cosmo took a moment to dive his hands in his pockets and fumble around the contents, and felt relieved as he pulled out the device. However, as he looked over to it, he noticed with dismay that the dial was flickering irregularly back and forth, and the screen above it had a very visible crack. Cosmo was bewildered at first, staring at it in complete surprise, until the answer hit him like a ton of bricks. Cosmo almost crushed the device in his fist with anger as he came to realise,

"It was damaged in my fight with Anti-Cosmo earlier! That... moron..."

"Nice try, Anti-Cosmo, but I know it's you behind that Cosmo disguise. You can't fool with that pathetic trick." Jorgen told him in his thunderous voice, but Cosmo refused to be intimidated by him. Although he knew that Jorgen wasn't the type of person that can be reasoned with, Cosmo felt the need to try anyway. So he stepped towards him hesitantly while wiping the perspiration from his forehead, as he began to plead to him,

"I swear, this is not a trick! I really am Cosmo, but I've changed because of a wish that Timmy made." Cosmo attempted to explain everything as quickly as he could before Jorgen got too close to them, "Timmy, my godson, wished that I was smarter and, as a result of that, Anti-Cosmo became dumber. And when it seemed like our personalities switched around, you came and mixed us up by mistaking me for him!" Cosmo looked into the vacant eyes of Jorgen Von Strangle, and held his breath as he asked, "Do you understand?"

"I understand," Jorgen tells him bluntly before bending down to get to his level, and squared his eyes at him threateningly, "I just don't believe you."

Cosmo was cornered. There was no where to run to. Jorgen had made himself so close to him that he could feel his breath on him and Cosmo was frozen on the spot, staring into the eyes of his oppressor. Cosmo felt he'd lost, and nothing in his clever mind could figure a way out of this.

That was until Anti-Wanda suddenly nudged Cosmo aside and aggressively pushed her face closer to Jorgen's.

"Look, you big confused ape, we're telling you that you've got the wrong guy!" She shouted to him with frustration. Cosmo shook his head as he came to his senses, and was surprised to see Anti-Wanda standing up to Jorgen all by her side. He admired how brave Anti-Wanda had become, but she wasn't afraid of Jorgen Von Strangle. She was afraid of sea monsters, sure, but not of him. Frankly, she was getting sick of always being imprisoned by him and she had enough of being constantly pushed around.

Jorgen snarled at her in response.

"And _I'm _telling you that you're full of it! How dare you speak to me like that, puny anti-fairy!"

Cosmo used this time to quickly hide himself behind Anti-Wanda and look over his cloaking device to tend to it. He only hoped that she would give him enough time to repair it...

"Are you blind or something?" Anti-Wanda yelled in his face, shaking her fists at him as her knuckles turned white, "God, you're so frustrating! But we don't have time for this! We've lost Timmy and we have to go find him and wish Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo back to normal. So, if you'd be so kind, would you please _get out of our way_?!"

Cosmo stared at her, fearing that this may be the last time he'd ever see her.

Jorgen's face was completely washed over with a bright red glow, and his throbbing vein was pulsating clear across his forehead. Jorgen was an aggressive person and he would usually default to his anger in almost every situation, so when he had a legitimate excuse to be angered, it was a terrifying sight to behold.

"That was rude." He seethed through his gritted teeth, and stood up to grab hold of his wand with both of his hands. He towered over them, and his enormous stature reminded them that he was the most all-powerful domineering being in the universe. Jorgen pointed his wand in the faces of Anti-Wanda and Cosmo. "Let's see how rude you are behind bars."

Anti-Wanda backed away defensively once she realised there was no way around this, and reached back in search for Cosmo. Suddenly, she felt his tight grip on her arm once again as she was pulled forcedly backwards beside him. As Jorgen's wand began to glow dangerously into a bright red light, Cosmo shot Jorgen one last triumphant smirk before flipping the switch on his cloaking device.

And in an instant, they disappeared from Jorgen's sight.

To Jorgen, they had vanished without any trace, and he couldn't detect any signs of magical life anywhere. To everyone else, they were completely invisible. However, from their point of view, they were only slightly transparent. This was an indication to them that it had worked perfectly, and they could squeeze silently past Jorgen without having any trouble from him. Anti-Wanda side stepped past him as he frantically looked from left to right, and struggled to stifle a laugh at how dumbfounded he looked.

Cosmo placed a finger to his lips again to her, and he kept his grip on her as dragged her away from Jorgen. Although the fog had thinned out a lot more and he could see a lot more clearly ahead of him, Cosmo didn't want to take any chances and lose Anti-Wanda along the way. If they were to successfully escape Jorgen together, then they had to stay close beside the cloaking device, or else...

"_Anti-Cosmo_!" Jorgen screamed in fury as he scrambled along the board-walk, desperately attempting to feel out the area to no avail, and he took to screaming to the dark, empty skies, "I will find you, I swear on my life_ I will take you down_!"

Cosmo cringed from having angered Jorgen so much. This will be a lot harder to explain once they have everything sorted out, but he decided that they'll have to worry about that later. His top priority at that moment was to find Timmy.

He pulled Anti-Wanda onwards through the sky until he spotted a dense forest area beneath him. It looked perfect for hiding in until they figure out what to do next. Cosmo gripped tightly on to Anti-Wanda's arm and darted towards the forest, dragging her down after him as they shot towards the darkest part, and discovered a small cave they could take cover in nearby.

Before he dove inside the forestry, Cosmo looked behind him and saw Jorgen rise up into the sky from a distance, and watched him hold his wand in the air. The end of his wand was glowing brighter and brighter, until it looked as if a bright red sun had descended to Earth, and Cosmo recognised this as a signal to call for help to Jorgen's military base.

"This isn't good." Cosmo told her and hurriedly dragged Anti-Wanda into the forest. As they took cover beneath the canopies, Cosmo landed on the ground and pointed to the cave up ahead, "Let's hide in there, quick!"

They ran towards it until they came close enough to realise that it was a lot smaller than it looked from a distance. So, Cosmo shrunk them both down to a comfortable size where they could fit inside the cave without having to squeeze inside. It was almost foolproof, until a horrific booming noise sounded over their heads.

Cosmo and Anti-Wanda froze on the spot just before they could reach the cave, and looked to the skies in terror as they met the piercing eyes of Jorgen Von Strangle hovering overhead like a vulture.

"Did he see us?!" Anti-Wanda whispered desperately to Cosmo as her eyes remained desperately on Jorgen's. She was too afraid to look away.

Cosmo remained silent and diligent, and grit his teeth to refrain from giving into his panic. He kept his eyes intensely locked on Jorgen. He seemed to be simply hovering there while his wand shone a blinding red light, and his eyes were darting everywhere.

Jorgen hadn't seen them. But he was searching for them.

After what seemed to be an eternity to them, Jorgen finally moved on ahead after he concluded that this area was devoid of life. Cosmo and Anti-Wanda let out a long sigh of relief and ducked inside the safety of the cave.

Anti-Wanda sat herself down, wiped the perspiration from her forehead and clutched her fast beating heart. Cosmo sat across from her, and was still a little out of breath when he turned towards her,

"We should use as little magic as possible. We may be invisible, but Jorgen can still detect magical power at any range. I figure he spotted us using our magic to change our size... but it wasn't enough for him to catch us in the act." Cosmo placed a finger on his chin as he dived into his contemplative mind, "Now... what do we do from here?"

Anti-Wanda waited patiently from the sidelines, cautiously waiting for Cosmo's mind to work and come up with the next plan of action. She watched him close his eyes as the air grew silent around them, and the only sounds around them were the wind whistling through the forestry. Even if they weren't whispering, there was no way for Jorgen to hear their voices over the rustling trees. Anti-Wanda found it was more peaceful than anything.

"Alright, here's what we'll do." Cosmo quickly interrupted her appreciation of nature and turned towards him, "I think the best option for us right now is to return to Timmy's home and go through the transportation device. We can take cover in your castle while I think of a way to find Timmy. I might be able to invent something that will aid us as well..."

"Are... you sure that's what we should do?" Anti-Wanda asked him nervously, and she fidgeted with her thumbs as she couldn't shake off the feeling that this might not be a good idea, "Wouldn't the castle be the next place that Jorgen would look?"

"That's just it." Cosmo nodded with a confident smile, "Jorgen wouldn't suspect us hiding in the most obvious place imaginable. He thinks that Anti-Cosmo would be too smart to think of that."

Anti-Wanda suddenly grinned, as if her eyes was sparkling with anticipation.

"That's something that Cosmo would do!" Anti-Wanda almost yelled to him enthusiastically and clapped her hands together in excitement, "That's so dumb that it's genius!"

"Thanks... unless that wasn't intended as a compliment." Cosmo said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at her. In response, Anti-Wanda retained her smile as she innocently tilted her head at him,

"I'm not sure if it was."

Cosmo sighed once more at her, and found himself understanding what it must be like for Wanda to deal with Cosmo when he says something... not intelligent.

He rose to his feet and peered outside the cave, looking at every direction before concluding that it was safe to leave. It didn't seem like Jorgen was anywhere near them, and there weren't any signs of Jorgen's reinforcements descending from the sky. The forest was dark and a little difficult to see through, but Cosmo couldn't detect any dangers lurking from anywhere.

Anti-Wanda peered out beside him, looking every which way that Cosmo had looked, and smiled to him once she confirmed that the coast was clear. Although Cosmo was still a little on edge, he asked her,

"Are you alright to leave now?"

Anti-Wanda nodded and clutched her mildly beating heart, shooting him a toothy grin when she realised how calm she had become.

"I'm fine. It'll take more than that to scare me."

Cosmo stepped out of the cave and into the open air, then turned back to Anti-Wanda to raise an unconvincing eyebrow at her, and teased,

"Unless there are sea monsters lurking around."

Anti-Wanda pouted, and although she knew that he was only lightly aggravating her, she still felt that same cold chill run down her spine. And as they both leapt into the air, Anti-Wanda attempted to conceal her fright with a small laugh, and said timidly,

"Um, please don't joke about that!"

Cosmo snorted. He couldn't quite let out a hefty laugh as he had done before, since he was determined not to make too much noise, but the way that Anti-Wanda reacted sometimes was downright hysterical.

They hovered beneath the canopies and remained safely hidden in the darkness of the forest. Cosmo figured it would be best if they took precautions and remain as well hidden as possible, especially since Jorgen had called down his army to help him search for them. Cosmo stuck close beside Anti-Wanda as they flew and swerved through the dense forest. It was irritating to him that he couldn't use his magic to simply make them appear in Timmy's room, but he couldn't afford to take risks if Jorgen's sensitivity to magic was heightened at that time. Cosmo looked over to Anti-Wanda to see if she felt as annoyed as him.

Naturally, she wasn't thinking about anything at all. Anti-Wanda was flying close by Cosmo with a spacey grin on her face, and occasionally she'd take out her hand and run her fingertips along the leaves. She had even made herself a game to play whenever she had to tap any branches out of her way; by pretending to be a super villain flying her way through the forest, and every enemy of hers was anything that obstructed them.

Cosmo almost laughed again after he realised that wasn't actually too far from the truth.

As they manoeuvred their way through the obstructing trees and their tangled branches, another thought came back to Cosmo that made him wonder. He turned over his shoulder to face Anti-Wanda, and caught her attention when he simply stated,

"It seems like you're used to being chased around by Jorgen."

Anti-Wanda wondered for a moment why Cosmo suddenly brought this up. She hadn't realised that Cosmo took note of how easy it was for Anti-Wanda to stand up to someone like Jorgen, and yet be absolutely petrified of the concept of fictional monsters.

So, she shrugged her shoulders and told him,

"I have to be. I'm an anti-fairy, remember?" She rolled her eyes as if he'd forgotten that very minute detail, "Whenever I'm out of bounds, it's always Jorgen who relentlessly chases us down. It's like the whole of Fairy World goes on red alert whenever we're at large. And most of the time, we aren't. It's just rumours and gossip. But when you're as nefarious as we are, it's only natural that people are so scared to even speak of our names. That's why Anti-Cosmo and I are Jorgen's top priority."

Cosmo wasn't sure whether or not this was something to laugh about. Anti-Wanda spoke so highly of this entire situation, it was almost terrifying. It was like she regarded her reputation as one of the most fiercest anti-fairies alive as no big deal. Cosmo thought perhaps he was a little intimidated by how nonchalant Anti-Wanda spoke of this.

He coughed into his hand to regain himself, and put on a sarcastic tone of voice to mask his unease,

"I'm a little worried about how much pride you take in your criminal status."

Anti-Wanda giggled as she replied,

"I figure if you're good at something, why not boast about it a little?"

Cosmo couldn't help but smile out of spite, figuring that was possibly the most ill-advised statement he ever heard from someone in her position, and found himself laughing along with her.

"Right," Cosmo grinned, and replied with thick layers of sarcasm, "Another ounce of good advice from the wise old crone..."

"Oh man, shut up!" Anti-Wanda scolded him as she attempted to swiftly slap his arm, and Cosmo had just managed to fly out the way as he laughed some more.

It was easy to get Anti-Wanda annoyed, and her pout was a very easy indication of this, but Cosmo found it was a little alarming to how similar she was to Wanda. She was a short-tempered woman, and her anger could reach levels that could intimidate the likes of Jorgen, and Anti-Wanda was a little alike in that aspect. However, Anti-Wanda's anger would be short-lived because of how often her mind wanders. She'd forget her anger in an instant, or she'd find nothing else to dwell over. In fact, Cosmo realised, this made Anti-Wanda fairly mild-mannered.

But his smile didn't remain as he realised that Wanda's anger would also be short-lived, in a different way to Anti-Wanda. Cosmo realised, with a heavy heart, that Wanda never held a grudge against him because she couldn't ever stay mad at him.

Cosmo suddenly shook his head as if to ward off these unwanted thoughts.

_There's no time to dwell on this now. I have to find Timmy._

Finally, Cosmo could see faint dots of light coming from a suburban area just outside of the forest entrance. The streets and the signs looked familiar, and Cosmo was incredibly relieved to realise that this was the way to Timmy's neighbourhood. And before they reached the very edge of the forest, Cosmo stopped Anti-Wanda before she could step out. He turned to her and lowered his voice,

"Jorgen may be able to sense us if we walk down the street. It'd be safer if we took the back alleys." Cosmo looked down towards the cloaking device and tapped it lightly a few times, then scowled by how unresponsive it seemed to be, "I don't know if this piece of junk is functioning properly, but we can't take any chances. You with me?"

Anti-Wanda nodded soundlessly, and rose to the air after Cosmo.

"All the way." She whispered back.

Cosmo was pacing himself cautiously as he hovered out into the open, and every few seconds he would stop to look in every direction. They were hesitating in the middle of a dark, empty street leading up to the suburbs, until Cosmo determined that it was safe to move towards the entrance of the alley that sliced itself in between two streets.

Suddenly, Cosmo lunged for the alley with Anti-Wanda very close beside him. They took cover behind garbage pails and dumpsters, and cautiously took every step to avoid any signs of light touching them. They remained in the darkest parts of the darkest areas, and whenever they were forced into a lighter area, they'd run as fast as they could to take cover where ever they could.

And it seemed to have worked, Cosmo realised, when he could just about make out Timmy's house from the distance. Slowly, he emerged from behind a garbage pail and flew a little higher into the air, just so he could make out the window into Timmy's bedroom. It was barely in his sight, but they were that much closer to their destination.

"We're almost there." Cosmo whispered over to Anti-Wanda, who emerged from inside the garbage pail with the lid balancing on her head. "C'mon, if we keep up the pace, we'll be able to make it before the sun comes up."

Anti-Wanda carelessly took a step out of the pail before realising that the lid was still balancing precariously on top of her head. She almost squealed when the lid slid off her hair and crashed on to the floor.

The sound of it impacting the concrete was almost like an earthquake to them.

Cosmo froze, and his eyes stared in terror back at Anti-Wanda. She almost shivered in fright as she refused to move another inch out of the garbage pail, and her leg was rooted over the edge. For a few seconds, the Earth seemed to have frozen stiff as well, and the air was so silent that only Anti-Wanda's quickened breathing could've been heard.

Finally, after a minute or two, Cosmo let out a long winded sigh of relief. Then, he soundlessly made his way over to her and picked up the garbage pail lid. He turned to face Anti-Wanda, who had sunk back inside the pail to avoid Cosmo's impending wrath. Cosmo stared her down, and she almost shivered by how cold his gaze was.

Surprisingly, Cosmo simply tapped her on the head with it. He was relieved that they hadn't attracted any unwanted attention, but he still felt the need to tell her that she was a clumsy idiot. Anti-Wanda mouthed the word 'sorry' before grinning at how merciful Cosmo was with her.

Once she successfully climbed out of the garbage pail without making a sound, she happily made her way close behind Cosmo as they continued forward. However, Anti-Wanda froze up again once she heard a rapid rustling noise strike up right behind her. Quickly, she clapped her hands over her mouth to keep herself from shrieking in surprise, and kept her head facing towards Cosmo. She was much too terrified to turn to see what it was. And when the sound echoed through the alley, Cosmo turned over his shoulder towards her,

"Anti-Wanda, be quiet!" He hissed under his breath, but he was taken aback by feeling her grip on the back of his clothes once again.

Anti-Wanda looked up desperately towards Cosmo, and told him anxiously and as quietly as she could,

"It's not me!"

Cosmo had the good sense this time to trust when Anti-Wanda is afraid of something. They looked at each other for a moment before gulping in unison. Then, at the same time, they both turned their heads to see another terrifying figure sitting beside them on the fence.

However, this time, it was the most muscular looking cat they had ever seen.

"_**MEOW!**_"

Cosmo and Anti-Wanda almost jumped by how loud and gruff this cat's voice was. And when the cat turned it's beefy neck towards them, and when it glared at them with it's piercing yellow eyes, it flashed it's large horrifying fangs into a grin.

There was no doubt in either Cosmo or Anti-Wanda's mind that this cat was a poorly disguised Jorgen Von Strangle.

Cosmo didn't know whether to be terrified, or bewildered. And although Cosmo's feet was firmly rooted into the ground in terror and Anti-Wanda was too petrified to even move, Cosmo felt compelled to ask,

"Did... did you just meow at us?"

"Yes." Jorgen the cat purred, "When I'm disguised, I get fully invested in my character."

Anti-Wanda dared to peer closer at him to comment,

"You're not a very good actor."

"And _you're _not very good at hiding!" Jorgen hissed at them with unrelenting fury.

That was the moment when Cosmo and Anti-Wanda recognised the danger they were in.

Suddenly, Jorgen pounced up and stretched his sharp, glistening claws towards them. Anti-Wanda shrieked as Cosmo grabbed hold of her arm again and launched them both into the sky. Jorgen had just narrowly missed them, but he was soon hot on their trail once he had leapt into the sky after them. He shook off his disguise and returned to his military form just as Anti-Wanda dared herself to look below her. She witnessed the terrifying sight of Jorgen's figure becoming larger and his eyes burning with rage.

Cosmo stopped in mid air just as he burst through the clouds, then shot off like a rocket with Anti-Wanda close behind. Jorgen emerged from the clouds like an explosion... but he lagged behind them for a moment. Anti-Wanda looked behind her once more to see that he had curiously stopped.

"What... what is he doing?" She asked anxiously, and Cosmo looked over his shoulder to see him as he continued bounding ahead.

All of a sudden, Jorgen's wand flashed into that bright red light, and Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were temporarily blinded for a moment. As Cosmo cried out in surprise and stumbled in mid air, Anti-Wanda had just managed to struggle to open her eyes.

But when she did, she wished she hadn't. As soon as she saw what was behind her, her face went completely pale.

"GO!" She screamed to Cosmo as she took his arm and dragged him ahead. Cosmo struggled to regain his eyesight, and was terrified to wonder what had scared Anti-Wanda this much. However, before he could ask her, he managed to open his eyes and see for himself.

Jorgen was mischievously grinning as he held his wand in the air, and the red light began blinking in intervals.

Cosmo was right. This was a signal.

Higher in the sky where the stars were blinking towards them, their forms seemed to get larger and larger. And there they were. Hordes of military fairies in large formatted groups darting towards Cosmo and Anti-Wanda from a distance. Jorgen's reinforcements.

"There must be hundreds of them..." Cosmo whispered in terror.

"Cosmo! What do we do now?" Anti-Wanda shouted towards him as she dragged him further along the sky.

Cosmo grabbed a fistful of hair as he held himself in shock. He knew he had to snap out of it, he knew he had to think of something quickly if he wanted to get out of this alive, and he took a few seconds to search every inch of his mind to formulate the quickest plan he could come up with. Time was something he didn't have, and he concluded that he had to work with what he had.

Then, as if a light bulb went off in his head, he grabbed a hold of his wand and desperately lead them both away at the rocket speed. Cosmo kept Anti-Wanda closely to him, and as she looked over to him for guidance, Cosmo was on top of it.

"Anti-Wanda, it is imperative that you listen to me very carefully now," he told her sternly, "I have a plan."

...


	9. Act Nine

...

_Act Nine: _Wrong

...

"Oh thank God, we've made it back in one piece. I thought we'd never live to see this place again."

"Quit complaining. We've made it to Timmy's room safe and sound, haven't we? Although we would've arrived a lot earlier if it wasn't for your recklessness, Anti-Cosmo."

Wanda flew through Timmy's bedroom window and turned aside to scold him. Anti-Cosmo couldn't find a quick reply as he tried his best to struggle through the window of Timmy's bedroom. He looked like a child as he stuck his tongue out, concentrating all of his might on this simple task. Until at last, he'd gathered all of his remaining strength to push his legs over the ledge, but his victory was short-lived when he clumsily flipped himself over and clashed his forehead hard against the bedroom floor.

Wanda snorted with laughter into her hand, then quickly looked away to avoid Anti-Cosmo's inevitable infuriated glare at her.

"So graceful..." She dared to comment with a grin and a snicker.

Anti-Cosmo slowly took to his feet, and took a minute to quietly brush the dust off his shoulders and take a deep, calming breath. However, this wasn't nearly enough to sedate his unrelenting fury. And suddenly he yelled to Wanda in an explosion of rage,

"I'd like to see you try and climb up a two-story building with damaged wings!" Anti-Cosmo marched over to Wanda and leveled himself to her height to glare at her. He felt all the more enraged when her bemused smile hadn't moved an inch, "If your godson didn't look so much like a damn beaver, then I wouldn't have mistaken him with a live one, would I?!"

"But you jumped on top of a whole pack of beavers!" Wanda retold the event to him incredulously as she fiercely bit her lip to stop herself from snorting with laughter, "And, what, did you think they were all Timmy? I don't know about you, but I can't say human children have that ability to duplicate themselves."

Anti-Cosmo had to withhold his anger so much to the point that he could've bitten her head off if he hadn't.

"Whatever!" He spat, and crossed his arms in a childlike huff. He felt so exhausted and bruised from his previous battle with Cosmo that he could barely fend off the onslaught of four, harmless looking beavers. His humiliation was insurmountable, and his red hot flushes of embarrassment were plainly painted over his blue-skinned face. So, instead of unleashing his scorn for the loss of his pride on to Wanda, Anti-Cosmo quickly glanced around the room and paced the room impatiently,

"Timmy better be here! It's his fault that I'm stuck this way, so he better show up to fix it!"

"He's not here." Wanda told him quickly, but her voice was too low for him to hear over his incessant grumbling.

"I can't believe I've been stuck like this all day because of him. And not to mention, it's Cosmo's fault too! That moron... if I ever get my hands on Cosmo again, I'll be sure to finish the job..."

"Timmy's not here!" Wanda repeated herself and made sure she was even louder than the first time.

Anti-Cosmo stopped pacing.

"What?! Anti-Cosmo snarled in disgust at her, "Oh c'mon! I was so sure he would've come back to his home by now! Where the hell is that little twerp?!"

"Hey, I already said he's not here! There's nothing we can do about that!"

Wanda loudly cried, and immediately Anti-Cosmo stopped altogether. In an instant, he'd forgotten his exhaustion, his physical fatigue, and he'd forgotten all the reasons why he was angry in the first place. He simply stared wide-eyed at Wanda as he knew that he'd unintentionally pushed all of her wrong buttons. In the midst of his temper tantrum, he'd forgotten that Wanda was hurting in silent ways over the loss of her husband and godson. Then he almost winced as he expected a barrage of angry insults or melancholy speeches heading his way at any moment.

However, instead of everything he had expected from her, Wanda simply remained silent. She lifted her arms and stretched upwards, groaning as she let out a long and drawn out yawn. Anti-Cosmo was terrified as he still braced himself for her attack, but she continued stretching her arms. And for the first time all night, Anti-Cosmo could've sworn that Wanda seemed to be... really relaxed.

"Yeah, there's no point in being miserable about it." She said very harmoniously as she placed her hands behind her back and stretched backwards, "All we can do from here is keep going forward. We have to keep trying everywhere, and we simply can't give up until Timmy is found. That's just how it's gonna go."

Wanda placed her fist on her side as she turned towards Anti-Cosmo and grinned widely, yet her eyebrows were so furrowed with determination that she looked almost intimidating. Although he could detect a tinge of sadness in her voice, as it was likely she was withholding her impulse to retreat into herself, Anti-Cosmo was surprised at how level-headed she was being about this. He was relieved, and he felt his animosity fade away as she continued to motivate him.

"I'm not giving up." She told him triumphantly, as if there wasn't a force in the world that could stop her, "We'll find Timmy, I'm sure of it. I'm ready for anything!"

Almost immediately after she had finished that sentence, she was suddenly interrupted by a flash of golden light sparkling around her wand, and the burst of magical energy pushed her backwards very nearly off her feet. Anti-Cosmo jumped as the blinding light caught his attention by complete surprise, so he quickly and defensively held his arm over his eyes to shield his himself from the eruption of energy that overwhelmed him. Although the wand had poured out an insurmountable amount of magic that blew past them like a small tornado, Wanda struggled to keep her stance steady to hold up the wand in a tight grip in order to inspect it. The wand was a little hard to make out past it's blinking light, but she managed to discover that it was very animated and alive with mysterious activity.

"What did you do?" Anti-Cosmo yelled over to her as he continued to shield his eyes away from it.

"I... I don't know. I didn't do anything!"

Then, as if it was responding to the sound of her voice, the wand emitted a surge of powerful magic. It burst into the form of coloured lights shooting out in a beam in the direction of Timmy's window. As it did this, Wanda felt a shudder run through her hand as she held on to the wand as tight as she possibly could. Then, when it was finished, she quickly tried to steady herself to see what had caused it. She forced her eyes to adjust to the light that blinded her. To her immediate surprise, she found that ray of light shining towards Timmy's bedroom window had stretched onwards into the far off overcast distance as the night shadowed over it. It looked to Wanda like she was holding the world's brightest and most beautifully multicoloured flashlight, and a rainbow had arched out of it.

However, when Wanda curiously moved her wand to the side to inspect it more closely, the ray of light hadn't moved at all in mid-air. It was as if the ray of light was following her, and it had intentionally arched it's direction towards wherever she stood.

"You're doing something, Wanda! Tell me what it is!" Anti-Cosmo accused her and attempted to sound threatening. However, in reality, he felt all the more threatened by how oblivious he was to the entire situation.

"I _told_ you, I don't know what's happening!" Wanda yelled back as her hair was being thrown around from the whirling magical power emitting from her wand.

She looked desperately around the area and hoped nothing in Timmy's room was getting damaged by the wind that tempted to spin them around like a tornado. The wind had managed to pick up a few discarded books and toys while Wanda and Anti-Cosmo tried desperately to plant themselves on the spot so they weren't thrown around along with them. But as the tornado raged on, the winds were threatening to become more violent, and the tremors below them gradually sped up into a small rumble beneath their feet. The fish bowl next to Timmy's bed shuddered to life and the bed rattled loudly against the walls creating a large racket that filled the entire room. Anti-Cosmo managed to step close enough to Wanda to hear her, and squinted hard enough to be able to make her out of the wreckage flying around them.

"Is there an earthquake?" Wanda attempted to shout over the harsh winds to Anti-Cosmo as he was fighting against the turbulence threatening to throw him off his feet.

Instinctively, they both looked over to Timmy's window where the ray of multicoloured light shot out. If there was an earthquake, they thought, the rest of the street would be feeling the effects of it as well. So they slowly stepped up to approach the window ledge to peer out of it, but they could barely manage to make out the street beneath them. The beam of light created a soft glow around it so they could just barely identify a few things along the streets, but they still couldn't see exactly where the ray of light was leading to. However, it looked more than likely to be an earthquake when they spotted the houses shaking, street lights rattling uncontrollably, and distant sounds of dogs barking and car alarms setting off.

"Do you think my wand is causing all of this?!" Wanda asked Anti-Cosmo worriedly.

"It has to be!" He shouted back over the noisy winds, "It can't be purely coincidental that an earthquake happens just as your wand starts to malfunction!"

"It's not malfunctioning!" Wanda cried as she tried to shake it around in her grip. She refused to believe that anything might have happened to her wand that could have prompted such a large reaction on Earth.

Wanda tried to desperately make her magic follow her orders, but it simply refused to budge. It seemed to have been locked on creating a large ray of light that lead to somewhere far off in the distance, and it was infuriating to her that she could no longer take control of the situation. Wanda shook the wand harder with both hands, trying desperately to create a response from it, but she was disheartened even further when it rejected to cooperate.

"It's... it's not doing anything I want it to do!"

Anti-Cosmo gritted his teeth in frustration, "So it is malfunctioning!"

"It is not! It's just..."

Wanda's voice trailed away. She was brought to a sudden halt when her gaze wandered to the darkened skies and spotted something small in the distance. It seemed to be approaching them at tremendous speeds, coming from the direction of the beam of light's end. Then, Wanda felt her breath hitch in her throat. She couldn't breathe when she finally figured it out.

Whatever it was coming towards her, it was using this light source as a means to follow it and track her down.

"Wait, I recognise that thing..." Anti-Cosmo squinted his eyes to adjust his gaze on it, but his eyes immediately widened in shock when he finally made it out, and whispered in disbelief, "No, is that...?"

In the far off distance of the blackened sky, two small dots were rushing towards Timmy's house in a frightening hurry. Wanda and Anti-Cosmo could recognise the incredibly unique flying pair in an instant once the bright green hair and the long blue curls were in a better perspective.

Cosmo and Anti-Wanda.

And they were hastily dashing over to them at the speed of light.

"Anti-Wanda... and that idiot!" Anti-Cosmo seethed as he finally recognised him and clenched his fists in fury, "Did he cause this earthquake?"

"No, it's not Cosmo's fault." Wanda said in a chilling subdued tone of voice, as she was still attempting to recover from shock. Anti-Cosmo was shaken up as he noticed how pale Wanda's face had suddenly become. Then, Wanda soundlessly pointed her finger towards the space above Cosmo's head, and barely found enough air in her lungs to speak, "It's them. They're causing it."

As Anti-Cosmo followed the direction of Wanda's finger, he gasped in sheer terror once he saw the hordes of falling stars shining brighter and larger behind Cosmo and Anti-Wanda, until it was clear to him that they were large and extensive groups of military fairies descending from the sky. They were grouped together in a strategic formation, moving occasionally from side to side in an attempt to ambush them. But every time a group of fairies seemed to have got close enough to catch Cosmo and Anti-Wanda, the pair had pushed themselves just enough to escape their grasp, but in doing so they had also managed to close the gap between them and Jorgen Von Strangle, who was not too far behind them.

Cosmo was shooting ahead with his wand stretched out towards Wanda and Anti-Cosmo like a rocket, thrusting him and Anti-Wanda forward as it carried them along the ray of light emitting towards Wanda.

And when Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were able to be clearly seen in the distance from Timmy's bedroom, Wanda almost screamed when she suddenly realised just how fast they were approaching them. They were being chased down, and they didn't look like they had any intention of slowing down at all. Wherever they were aiming to land, it was going to be a loud and painful.

"Oh my god!" Wanda shouted in absolute terror, "Quick! Take cover!"

As Wanda grabbed for Anti-Cosmo's shoulders, she forcedly pushed him down without warning and dived to the ground beside him. And as soon as she managed to hit the floor, Cosmo and Anti-Wanda crashed through the window and rolled ahead of them in a painful heap.

And the chaotic rumbling hadn't slowed down at all. As the fairy army and Jorgen Von Strangle approached them, the tremors beneath them shook the entire building until the roof began to crumble above them. Wanda could barely see or hear a thing over the thunderous racket, and she couldn't even find her footing anymore. She felt helplessly fastened to the ground, and she feared an entire army of fairies were going to appear at her doorstep at any second.

All of a sudden, Cosmo somehow managed to launch himself off his feet and pounce on top of Anti-Cosmo, forcedly throwing him against the wall. Anti-Cosmo could barely struggle against Cosmo's grip when the entire world beneath his feet was shaking him down,

"Cosmo, wh-!"

"Shut up!" Cosmo growled with high intensity as he pinned him down with all of his strength, "Now do what I say..."

Anti-Cosmo was struggling to find the will to protest against him, but he became paralysed as he watched Cosmo bring out his wand that had already began to glow. Cosmo hovered it menacingly in front of Anti-Cosmo's face and aimed the end right between his eyes. Anti-Cosmo knew he was in a position where he couldn't escape. He recognised the potential impending danger of Jorgen and his subordinates, so he reluctantly accepted his fate and squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head away from Cosmo as he awaited what was to come.

Just as the room began to glow from Cosmo's wand, swallowing both him and Anti-Cosmo in a blazing light, Jorgen had abruptly exploded into the room. And as the mushroom cloud that circled around him faded away, the whole world fell silent. It was as if Jorgen's presence had moved the Earth, his fury shook it to it's very core, and finally his silence brought over an eerie stillness. Jorgen looked over to Wanda with a hardened stare, and she was frozen to the spot. His expression was glazed with insurmountable rage, and his quietened temper was much more terrifying than any of his other methods.

Meanwhile Jorgen's army surrounded the entirety of Timmy's house as each subordinate had created a magical shield to prevent any magic being from passing through.

There was no escape for them.

"Anti-fairies." Jorgen stated simply as his eyes wandered over to Anti-Wanda, who lay in a dizzy, broken mess on the ground, and over to Anti-Cosmo who was still pinned to the ground by Cosmo. Both of them had been paralysed by Jorgen's overbearing appearance, and neither of them had the courage to move an inch away. "You have disobeyed the rules. Now you will pay the price."

Jorgen took a few steps towards Anti-Cosmo and Cosmo and towered over them until his entire form was completely overshadowing them. His eyes were glowing a terrifying shade of red that hid his hidden lust for revenge, and his frightful smirk was the last thing Cosmo saw before he was trapped within Jorgen's large hand. Then swiftly afterwards, he scooped his free hand under Anti-Wanda and encased her in his fist.

Cosmo shouted out in surprise, and once Jorgen had snared him by mistake, it seemed to have snapped Wanda back to reality.

_Jorgen still thinks Cosmo is Anti-Cosmo in disguise..._

Although she was terrified of what may happen to her if she protested against Jorgen as well as the entire fleet of military fairies, she couldn't let Cosmo get imprisoned. She just couldn't let Cosmo leave her again. She wouldn't let him go again, she refused to let him go!

Then, it was as if minutes had slowed down to seconds.

Cosmo struggled soundlessly within Jorgen's grasp and pushed as hard as he could against him, but there was no way he could free himself. Wanda could see it. He just struggled and struggled, and after every pathetic attempt to wriggle himself free from Jorgen's clutches failed, Wanda felt her heart break more and more. So she stretched her hand outwards and silently called after him, but he didn't seem to hear her at all. Her eyes widened in shock when she found that her voice was completely lost on her. Wanda's throat couldn't gather enough air to shout or scream Cosmo's name, her strength had swayed like her body was physically restraining her to move... but why?

Something in her mind, she suddenly realised, was holding her back.

But she knew she had no time on her hands to debate this. Wanda knew she had to do something quickly before it was too late to save him...

_"I need to have some time alone for a while..."_

Wanda recalled how Cosmo's voice sounded as she recounted his words over again in her mind, and they continued to echo in her head louder and louder until she tenaciously gritted her teeth. Wanda attempted to shake her head from these unwanted thoughts, and tried all the more to force her way on to her feet...

_"I need some time to think... away from you..."_

She stumbled over with unease. His words were like ice that pierced through her heart.

Wanda pushed herself to stretch her arm out more, but it was as if her lack of courage created a large weight that held her down and chained her body to the ground. She wanted with all of her being to take hold of Cosmo, pull him out of harm's way and escape with their lives. She just wanted their lives to go back to the way it used to be, before this mess had even started. Back when Timmy was safe under their care. Back when Cosmo was simply goofy and sweet.

Back when Cosmo didn't look at her with emptiness in his eyes.

She choked.

_Cosmo... don't leave me..._

Without realising it, tears emerged from Wanda's eyes and blurred her vision for a moment. And after blinking them away, she could finally make out the figure of Jorgen, and she could still see Cosmo in his grasp. There was still time left. Yes, there was still time! Jorgen was turning his back to her, but at least he was still there!

_"I just want to be a better person..."_

Cosmo's voice felt as if they had enveloped her and taken control of her until she was left helplessly looking through her own inanimate body.

Jorgen's wand began to glow once again into that glistening red light. And Wanda knew... it was almost too late.

"No!" Wanda finally managed to burst through her frozen state and scream through her thoughts, and she lunged herself off of her feet, "_Cosmo_!"

She was mere inches away from him. Only a couple more stretches and she'd take a hold of his arms...

He was right on the edge of her fingertips...

And in a blink of an eye...

He was gone.

Along with Anti-Wanda and the entire military fairy fleet, Jorgen had taken them all away.

Wanda stumbled forward and collapsed on to the ground where Cosmo had just been, and felt only emptiness within her grasp as she fell to the floor in defeat.

_This is wrong... this is so wrong..._

Wanda's determination had faltered, and she felt only remorse over her failings once again. She covered her mouth with her hands as she resisted the urge to throw up. It was all definitely getting too much for her. There were too many things going wrong that day, too many worries, too many heartbreaks, she just couldn't hold it within her any longer.

And she wished she could've found the courage to be more aggressive towards Jorgen. She thought that if she were brave enough or strong enough, she would've thought of a way to stop them. She could've stopped them and saved Cosmo from being captured. She was right there, watching him get taken away, and she was hopeless to stop it.

Wanda fought back the tears as she leant forward and rested her forehead on the ground. She felt as if the earth beneath her could just swallow her whole and she wouldn't have minded. It was too painful to continue further, she realised, and there was no way she could go on with this farce. All that talk earlier of keeping her head high as if nothing could bother her was too hollow, too forced, and she couldn't even find the strength within her anymore to continue that charade. Not when her family was missing, not when they aren't safe, she couldn't take it further...

"Cosmo... I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you..." She wept, and covered her face with her hands, feeling utterly and completely hopeless.

Just then, Wanda felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she immediately recognised it to be Anti-Cosmo's. Once again, she thought, he'd come to her aid to support her. Even as miserable as she was at that moment, she was still grateful that at least she had someone willing to help her by her side. At least, she found, that with two people she'd have a better chance of making things right.

Things looked grim, but she had supportive company on her side.

Wanda sniffed for a moment before placing her hand over his to let him know how she appreciated his presence there in her time of need. She certainly felt that she needed it, Wanda realised. She sat up, dried her eyes and attempted to look presentable, and looked dolefully towards Anti-Cosmo.

But then, out of no where, Anti-Cosmo carefully crouched down on one knee beside her. Wanda curiously raised an eyebrow at him as she wondered what he was planning.

And suddenly, Anti-Cosmo gently placed his hands on the sides of her face, lifting her face up at him a little by her jawline, and she felt as if she had jumped out of her skin. Wanda was immensely surprised, as well as incredibly uncomfortable, with how bold this action was. She was almost too terrified to ask what he was planning to do. She was so sure that they both knew where their relationship lay, and she was also sure that despite their unfortunate entanglement earlier that night, they were only a few more chapters away from becoming mutual friends.

But then Anti-Cosmo's face burst into a mischievous grin. And Wanda figured it out in an instant.

There was no second guessing what kind of smile that was. And Wanda didn't have to look twice in his eyes to work out who he really was.

"Gotcha!" He said cheerfully and stuck his playful tongue out at her.

"Cosmo! It's you..." Wanda breathed as if she had only just realised that she had forgotten how to breathe.

For a moment, she was so overcome with rage for making her worry that her entire face had filled up with colour

"You... you idiot! You scared me!" Wanda snapped at him as she flailed her hands at him in annoyance, and felt her hands still shaking after being as terrified as she was. Cosmo smirked with exhilaration as he realised he could still easily bring out her temper even with his new-found intelligence. Then, as soon as she saw him grin that same boisterous smile he'd always make from intentionally making her angry, she immediately forgot all her animosity and simply looked at him.

Cosmo had changed back into his original fairy form and as Wanda looked into the eyes of her husband again, she was so relieved... so incredibly grateful that he hadn't been taken away.

Suddenly, she thrust herself towards him and threw her arms around his waist. As she did this, she buried her head into his chest as she took in his presence there with her again, and reveled in the fact that she had her husband back by her side. She couldn't withhold the overjoyed smile as she almost laughed,

"Oh thank god, you're okay!" She squeezed him so tight that she almost heard him struggle against her for having his rubs crushed. Then, she released him all of a sudden to take a hold of his shoulders, and looked up to him with widened, flustered eyes, "Wait! What on Earth just happened? I saw Jorgen take you away, how are you still here?"

Cosmo's expression was beaming with pride as he felt delighted to explain,

"I swapped places with Anti-Cosmo and disguised myself as him just before Jorgen came barging in here." Cosmo told her proudly over how well his plan had turned out, "I figured that if Jorgen truly believes that Anti-Cosmo is disguised as myself, then I may as well play along!"

Wanda tilted her head in confusion and thought to herself for a moment, before turning back to him to ask,

"So... you tricked Jorgen by disguising Anti-Cosmo as you... disguising as Anti-Cosmo? And then disguising yourself as Anti-Cosmo disguising as you?"

Cosmo nodded and shrugged his shoulders as his smile widened, "Pretty wild, right?"

"Pretty... stupid." Wanda said incredulously and shook her head in disbelief, "But it works. Jorgen really is a total jarhead."

"That's putting it lightly." Cosmo grinned as he was glad for once that Jorgen's weakness was that his brains were in his biceps.

Wanda subtly brought herself nearer to Cosmo as she tried to figure out the rest, and let her hands remain over his shoulders as she asked,

"So, wait, does that mean the anti-fairies have been captured and sent to prison?"

"They'll get themselves out of trouble, I've made sure of that." Cosmo explained carefully as he also became aware that Wanda was coming closer to him "I gave the cloaking device to Anti-Wanda. I explained how it works to her so she'll figure out a way to escape. I'm sure we'll meet up with them later." Then Cosmo wondered to himself as he brought a contemplative finger to his chin, "Although it's a little risky, considering that it had been badly damaged and now it's barely functioning. Hopefully I fixed it up enough for them to use it when they need it."

"That was really risky... and dangerous." Wanda said quietly, and then slowly, and bravely, she rested her head over Cosmo's shoulder, and felt him stiffen up from her contact as she told him solemnly, "I honestly thought that Jorgen had captured you."

Cosmo's shoulders fell as he let down his guard around her. Although his plan had worked, Wanda was out of the loop, so she ended up being completely frightened under the impression that Cosmo was in trouble. He admitted that it may have been a little insensitive to her feelings, but in the end it had successfully saved them all in a bind. And, he also admitted, it was comforting to him when he realised just how upset Wanda was over him. She had shown him that she still cared for him, when he was just wondering if she did.

Cosmo smiled in relief. And he felt his heart quicken as she gradually brought her arms up from his shoulders and around his neck.

Despite himself, and while he felt his heart was about to burst out of his throat, he slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders to bring her closer to him. He felt so touched by her concern, it made his past anxieties slip away until he was only filled with the mysterious, comforting bliss that her love brought. It felt as if having her there with him again was like physically bringing something important back to him. She fit so perfectly in his embrace, and for a moment he wondered, why did he ever let her go?

"Sorry, honey." He said softly and rested his head gently on top of her hair as he slipped his fingers through her thick pink curls, and gently brushed his lips over her hair as he told her, "Didn't mean to scare you."

Wanda smiled softly to herself, and felt for the first time all night that everything was surely going to be alright. Cosmo had her in his arms again, and he seemed to be his contented self again. He was happy, he was loving, and it felt like not a day had passed since they were their original goofy selves. It was overwhelmingly comforting that had almost brought a grateful tear to Wanda's eye.

"It's fine. I'm just glad you're safe." Wanda sighed in content as she meant every word.

She didn't want to move away from him then. If she weren't so focused on finding her godson and making sure that he was safe, she would've been tempted to stay that way for a very long while. His arms were like returning back home, as if it was like having that feeling of love and safety envelop her. Cosmo had a way of doing that to her whenever he took hold of her. She had become so used to him, she regarded her true home wherever Cosmo went.

And he felt the same. Throughout this time away from her, he found that things only looked bleaker without her. And although his mentality was much more self-aware and smart, he still found himself depending solely on her. He didn't need to have her look after him. He didn't need her independence. He just needed her. She was all he needed, regardless of having to depend on her, he needed her because he loved her. And that simple fact was all he needed to survive ten thousand years of marriage. Ten thousand years of loving her doesn't just burn out in one night.

So, he held on to her with all of his feelings for her on his sleeve. He forgot everything that happened and he forgot why he was separated from her in the first place, he only cared that she was there at that moment, holding on to him with that same desperation that he felt for her. His fingers were wrapped up in her hair, her head had nestled perfectly under his chin, and her arms created a safe haven around him. It was like a piece of him had broken away from him when she distanced herself back from him, and he resisted the urge to pull her back into place.

However, he simply watched her as Wanda pulled herself back from him a little to look him in the eyes, and he found himself gazing back at her instead. Wanda noticed that his green eyes were glowing with that light he still held for her. She breathed with happiness and relief, and instantly forgot the vacant way Cosmo looked at her earlier, because the way he gazed at her at that moment disregarded all of that.

"So if getting Anti-Cosmo captured was the plan all along," She asked out of curiosity while still being wrapped up in his presence, and she asked him idly and softly, "How'd you know where to find us in Timmy's bedroom? And what was that mysterious beam of light coming from our wands? Did you create that?"

And suddenly, Cosmo fell stiff. He was stunned into silence for a moment as his smile immediately slipped away.

Wanda was instantly thrown off as she realised that what she asked had somehow spoiled the moment. His hands fell from her shoulders and idly dropped to her sides so that he was only holding on to her loosely. She couldn't bare the look he gave her as his gaze had changed suddenly from loving her to unrecognisable pain.

Cosmo leaned closer to her, and in an attempt to shake the shock out of him, he asked her in painful disbelief,

"Have... you forgotten?"

Wanda was incredibly alarmed. She was certain that she didn't want to mess it up between them again, but it seemed that she had said something that would make it a clear possibility, and she was terrified.

"What do you mean?" She asked him in desperation, "Cosmo?"

He stared at her, almost wide-eyed in shock, before his gaze fell dejectedly away from her. He brought his hands slowly away from her and crossed his arms as he retreated into himself, then he turned aside from her to avoid looking back at her. Then he became eerily quiet, and his expression was as if he was fighting the urge to look as if he was physically hurting.

Wanda didn't like this at all. She had just started to bring him back around again, but once more she had tripped and stumbled.

She brought her hand up to protest, or to say something that might make things between them a little less awkward, but instead she brought her hand over her mouth. She took a step back and retracted within herself. As she looked totally crestfallen over this, she didn't want to say something wrong again. She didn't want to push him further away. She remembered that she had to give him space and give him time to decide what he wants for himself. There's nothing she could've said or done that would be able to change that around at that moment...

But then, suddenly as if a flash of determination had overcame her, she realised that she could do something. She could help him gradually realise that she would always be there for him. She couldn't just say that she loved him and assume that was all he needed to hear to be able to be convinced of that. She had to put that into action, she had to show him everything she had within her, and she simply couldn't let him go on believing that she was willing to let him go just like that. She had to fight, or at least try something.

Wanda couldn't let an argument between them determine that everything was over between them. So, she swallowed her feelings and cleared her throat to catch his attention, and as he looked over his shoulder to her, he was surprised to have been met with a bright smile from her.

"Well, I suppose there's nothing we can do now but look for Timmy and wait for the anti-fairies to get back here." Wanda told him somewhat cheerfully as she rested a fist on her hip, as well as casually brushing her pink curls over to one side, "I checked the train stop earlier but Timmy wasn't there. It was messier than usual, for some reason, but there wasn't anything especially amiss. Did you pick up any clues on your end?"

"Uh, no..." Cosmo said as he tried to resist her smile, "No, I couldn't find Timmy either."

"That's a shame," Wanda said passively as she blew a few strands of hair out of her face, then a cheeky grin brightened her expression once again, "You know, I have a sneaking suspicion that he may be goofing around at the skate park. Remember that one time where we practically couldn't tear him away from that place? Our little guy is nuts about skating," She giggled as she reminisced about it to herself, to which Cosmo had to chuckle a little when he remembered himself, and soon after Wanda's smile softened as she gazed towards him, "It'll be quicker to search the entire area with two people, wouldn't you agree?"

Cosmo immediately caught on to her hint, and felt unsure whether this was a wise thing to do at this time. He wondered, would it be alright to go back to Wanda after all that's happened? And also, he had remembered the reason why he wanted to distant himself away from her for a while. He needed to think by himself and decide where to go from there. He needed to come to terms with himself on where he was, where his happiness lies, and whether it lies with his wife. He needed to think about it, he needed time to be alone.

Especially after it seemed to him that Wanda had forgotten something important to him...

However, Wanda was smiling to him so sweetly that his heart had wavered for just a moment, and he was giving in to the urge of joining her search for Timmy alongside her. She had brushed her hair to one side without realising it, which was one of her habits he'd noticed, and her kind smile was so welcoming. He'd forgotten that Wanda had that presence about her that welcomed him in with open arms. He knew she was very humble, and very forgiving of him. She was always so patient, he thought, and not to mention so beautiful...

Cosmo pressed his lips together for a moment to restrain himself once again.

He wondered if it would be beneficial for them both to look together in the same place to find Timmy instead of splitting up to cover more ground. Although, the skate park was a big place, and it was true that it would be much quicker to look over the area in a pair. He knew then that it would be better to go to the skate park together, and he concluded that searching beside each other would definitely be for the best...

_...for finding Timmy, of course! And nothing more. _

Cosmo reminded himself to keep her at arm's length as he withdrew himself once more. Then, he cautiously stepped towards her with his arms still crossed, and perspired under her softened gaze when he reluctantly spoke up.

"...I agree, it would be quicker to find Timmy if we look for him... together." Cosmo felt as if his ears had burnt up as he said this, then he quickly snapped to her in defense, "But I'm only doing this for Timmy. I still need my space."

Wanda smiled happily as she was relieved to at least have him stay by her. She rested her hand over her chest as she felt her heartbeat slow down a little, as she was actually quite worried about what he might have replied to her with. But it seemed to have worked this time and what she said was the right thing. She sighed gratefully as she was incredibly relieved to have him along with her.

"I'll give you all the space you need." Wanda told him patiently, and she stepped aside for him to join her, as well as physically showing him that she'd give him the distance that he wanted.

Cosmo began to think to himself again that she was so tolerant and thoughtful, and that he'd always loved how caring she was of other people, especially of him... and soon he swiftly took his eyes away from her and coughed into his hand to avoid giving himself into her once more.

With his clever mind being as active as it was at that moment, he was determined to look for all the reasons to think over whether or not he was really happy with Wanda. However, Cosmo's mind kept being distracted by thoughts of Wanda and how compassionate she was being, as if she was subconsciously reminding him of all the positives things he loved about her one by one.

As Cosmo cautiously hovered beside her to let her know he was ready to go, Wanda stepped back courteously to let him lead the way. He hadn't expected that, as she was the type of person to take charge of the situation, but he was pleasantly surprised when Wanda showed him that she trusted him all the way. And when he looked over his shoulder at her, she shot him a gentle smile that nearly shattered all of his previous thoughts and doubts.

Cosmo turned ahead once more, felt his face burn into a hot flush as his whole face turned red and leaped towards the window to fly into the sky. Wanda followed close behind him, and they lifted themselves in the darkened sky that began to brighten up as the crack of dawn was approaching.

And although Cosmo was determined to not let Wanda's company distract him from what he was aiming to achieve, all he could think of was his wife's loving smile and her warmhearted way of life.

He ran a frustrated hand through his messy green hair and shook his head aggressively while flying through the air with his wife's sunny presence to the side of him. He fought off the guilty pleasure of being back at her side, and looked intensely ahead of him.

_This is going to be difficult..._

…


	10. Act Ten

...

_Act Ten: _The Things We Forget

...

Anti-Cosmo tumbled on the floor of his cell as the guard of the high-security prison threw him inside and slammed the barred door behind him. The crashing sound of the cell door echoed through the building, and Anti-Cosmo welcomed the sound as he lay in a heap on the ground. Despite how grim everything looked, it felt as if he was returning home. And as he tried to pick himself back up on his feet, he heard Anti-Wanda shout loudly in surprise nearby, as she was thrown into the cell right beside his.

"Anti-Wanda," he called to her worriedly, springing on his toes as he ran to the cell door, "Are you alright? Say something!"

Suddenly, he interrupted himself when he noticed his fingers curl tightly around the bars of his cell, and he noticed the pinkish hue of his skin had remained. At first it surprised him as he had forgotten that Cosmo had switched around their appearances, until he caught sight of the strands of green hair messily falling over the one side of his face. He took hold of the longest strand of hair and inspected it, and to his disgust, he noticed that he was still disguised as his counterpart. He snarled in annoyance as he changed himself back to his original form, and shook himself as if he had to literally snake himself out of the disguise.

As his vision cleared up, he grinned as his monocle returned to it's rightful place, and his blue skin and bowler hat returned to normal. Although he was disappointed when his orange prison jumpsuit remained the same.

He sighed when the reality of the situation had finally hit him. Anti-Cosmo finally realised that he and his wife had been captured and imprisoned into the highest security prison in Fairy World. Anti-Cosmo recognised his cell as he had become familiar with it over the years. The barren space, the dampened brick walls and the small barred window as his lone source of light, nothing seemed to have changed. Although his cell was a lot less secure than some of the other cells he'd been in before, he noted how this cell was completely impervious to all kinds of magic in existence. He recognised how suffocating it felt to him, and how helpless he felt without having his magic to his disposal. A fairy would go mad if they were locked in there for too long.

Anti-Cosmo gripped tight on to the bars of the cell door and grimaced. He almost let out a growl when he concluded that this was all because he had put his faith in Cosmo. He felt his anger rise higher and higher as he recalled how he had no choice in the matter. He was basically threatened into the situation as he could only succumb to Cosmo's plan, and was ultimately duped into becoming a prisoner. Anti-Cosmo remembered it clearly in his mind; as soon as their appearances had been switched around, Cosmo hissed in his ear to keep quiet and let Jorgen take him and Anti-Wanda away.

Anti-Cosmo shook his head in despair when he recalled how easily won over he was by Cosmo's proposal. He remembered the faint glimmer of hope he felt, as if Cosmo dangled the idea of salvation in front his eyes before harshly ripping it away again, and Anti-Cosmo punched the bars in frustration by how dependant he'd become. To him, it was sickening.

"Damn him!" Anti-Cosmo seethed as he leant against the barred door, and his knuckles turned white by how hard he gripped on to the bars, "Why did I let myself be so easily fooled by him? Dammit, I shouldn't have trusted that bastard. I should've fought back while I had the chance! What was I _thinking_?!" He dropped his hands to his sides, and rested his forehead against the door in defeat, "Now look where we are... look where my carelessness brought us. I'm _better_ than this! How can I have fallen from grace so easily..."

Anti-Cosmo wandered over to the corner of his cell with his head hung low, and pressed his shoulder against the wall that separated him from his wife. He sunk down the brick wall as if his legs had collapsed beneath him, and leant back so that his head rested against the wall. His hand wandered to rest against the bars of his cell door.

For a moment, he lamented to himself over everything that had happened up until that point, and wondered if there was ever going to be a way to return things to normal. Everything seemed to be so shattered - between Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda, Anti-Cosmo's confidence without his pride and intelligence, and Anti-Wanda's faith in herself or her husband – it was like a broken mess of affairs that had changed their perspectives on life, marriage and identity, and there was no clear solution for any of them.

Anti-Cosmo remained in a solemn silence.

_So... where to go from here?_

He hesitated for a moment, wondering to himself whether or not Anti-Wanda could hear him from where he was, or if she was even willing to listen to him. He traced the prison wall with the back of his hand, wishing that it wasn't there separating them from each other. Anti-Cosmo found himself antagonising over the situation, and how he couldn't find the right words to comfort her and set things right. She couldn't see him, he couldn't rely on the actions he'd make like before, and without his intelligence, he felt that he had no courage to rely on the words he'd say to her...

But there wasn't anything else he could do at that point. He had to say something to her. He simply had to make things right between them. He refused to sit back and let things take it's course, since that hadn't seemed to work so far.

The rising sun peaked through the tiny barred window of Anti-Cosmo's cell, and created a soft glowing ray of sunlight into the cell he was so familiar with. He stared at it for a while, watching the tiny dust mites dance within the sunbeam, and felt an overwhelming loneliness take hold of him.

He had to say something. Now.

"Anti-Wanda..." he spoke up once again and disturbed the silence, and he still couldn't hear any kind of response from her cell. However, this didn't stop his determination to keep going, "I hope you can hear me. I have something... quite important to say."

The entire prison seemed to have fallen silent. The patrolling guards took quiet steps outside of their cells, the prisoners had nothing of importance to say, and all that enveloped Anti-Cosmo at that moment was how beautiful the shining sun was... and how it had painfully reminded him of Anti-Wanda.

"Anti-Wanda... I apologise for getting you involved in all of this," he began to fidget with his fingers as he tried to desperately make his brain work the way he wanted it to, and create all the right things that he wanted to say. Then, he continued, "I know this is a little late, and we haven't had a whole lot of time together since this whole fiasco started, but still... I want you to know that I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this. I've put you through some dangerous situations, I've done terrible things and destroyed your trust in me... it seems I have a habit of doing that with women... but that's a totally unacceptable thing to do. Especially to you, of all people."

There wasn't a sound at all from Anti-Wanda's cell. Anti-Cosmo paused for a moment as he reluctantly welcomed the silence that it brought, and slightly sighed before he bravely moved forward,

"You're no subordinate of mine, you're not a slave or some lackey, and you're certainly no ordinary person to me. You're my wife." Anti-Cosmo stated simply, and yet he spoke with all of his emotions readily on the tip of his tongue, "You're my world. I want to _give_ you the whole world. Because that's what you deserve. And when I conquer it, I swear I'm going to personally gift wrap it to you!"

He swore he could've heard some kind of noise from her cell. It was possibly laughter, but he wasn't sure.

"You stand beside me during all of my conquests, throughout all of my failures and misfortunes, and never once have I heard a complaint from you. It's honestly quite mind-boggling how you've put up with all of this for so long. It's amazing... that you've put up with me for so long."

Anti-Cosmo brought his hands together on his lap, clenching them tightly together as he peered down at them as he solemnly continued,

"I know you must be having your doubts now, Anti-Wanda, and I don't blame you. I've changed. I've become dumb and useless. I've kissed another woman. How could you possibly stand beside me any further?"

For a moment, he closed his eyes. Even he didn't feel as if he would take him back after all the things he's said and done. After a few quiet seconds of morose contemplation, his eyes gradually opened as he vacantly gazed at the open air,

"Well, before you make up your mind, there's something you should know." Anti-Cosmo spoke incredibly seriously as his eyes hardened into an intense stare, and his clenched fists strained against each other. His voice was low, and clearly passionate, "I will wait for you. No matter how long it takes, I will never forget how I feel about you. You can take months, years, decades... hell, you can take up as many millennia as you need if it makes even a fraction of a difference! I'll wait. And when you've made up your mind, I'll be there for your answer. And no matter what you decide... my feelings will still remain the same."

He turned his head towards the barred door, and wondered if she thought that may have sounded too selfish. After he took a moment to think about this, his eyebrows furrowed, and as his hands had unbound themselves into red hot balls of intensive fists, he dismissed his negativity and frowned when he decided to be completely honest about this,

"Sorry, dear, but that's the honest truth. I'm too damn in love with you to let you go so easily! I'll wait until the ends of the universe until you'll take me back! That's just how it is. It's how it's going to be."

Despite how incredibly passionate and determined he was feeling, he brought his hand over to rest against his forehead as he reeled himself back to try to control himself, but his words came out his mouth too easily as he spoke honestly to her,

"I've made some mistakes that can't be taken lightly, I realise that, which is why I'll accept the consequences. But if one of them is losing you, then I refuse to take that responsibility! I'll fight life and limb for you, if that's what it takes. And I don't care if my IQ is lowered a thousand times over and I'm reduced to a dribbling fool who can't even tie his own shoe laces... I love you, Anti-Wanda, and I'll do anything it takes for you to forgive me..."

The idea of Anti-Wanda rejecting him and leaving him had honestly scared him, and as the fear began to creep up on him, as that idea was dangerously on the edge of becoming a reality, Anti-Cosmo felt the hot wash of dread draw the blood out of his face into a ghostly paleness. The fear was breaking him down, and destroyed his resolve until he could only feel the cold void that Anti-Wanda had left behind for him.

He brought his leg up as he leant his arm over it, and gripped on to his hair as the continuing silence between them had started to become painful. He genuinely tried to keep his collected composure, but it was torturous. He was completely broken and lost. Anti-Cosmo shamefully hid his face behind his hand, and he let his words tumble out almost unintelligibly as his voice croaked out of his throat,

"I love you... I'm sorry... I love you..."

For a little while, Anti-Cosmo couldn't find his voice within himself anymore, and he hung his head in complete defeat, leaning his arm over his leg as the other hung hopelessly beside him. His hair covered his face, and he became a morosely shadowy figure as the sun light gradually moved across the cell along with the time that passed them both.

After a while, the tension in the empty air seemed to have eased up. Anti-Cosmo surprised himself as he felt that his own hands had stopped shivering, and found that his whole being felt as if it was coming down from a quivering episode, despite having sat as still as an unmoving stone all this time. He shook his head as he sighed to realise that Anti-Wanda, and only Anti-Wanda, could have affected him so much in this way.

The sun gradually spilt it's light over to where Anti-Cosmo sat, and he blinked to life as he felt disturbed by it's sudden interruption. And eventually, he had broken his own prolonged silence by lamenting once again,

"So this is what it's like to speak without thinking. It's a little annoying, but I could get used to it. It's actually not so bad to talk without having to think it through first. It's as if saying 'I love you' is coming directly from the centre of me." Anti-Cosmo smirked as he realised he had repeated the words of one particular person, "Strange, so this is what Wanda meant. It's actually refreshing, even a little liberating, to speak your feelings so freely... it just feels so genuine."

As he spoke, he quickly glanced to the side to avoid the sun's glaring light shining over the side of him, and his mind wandered back to Anti-Wanda once again. He traced his knuckles over the cold brick wall beside him, wishing once more that there were no more obstacles to separate them both.

"I wonder if you even heard me at all." Despite how solemn he sounded about this, Anti-Cosmo smirked and laughed quietly to himself, "No matter. I know what I'm going to do. I know I'll do whatever it takes to make things right. If it means waiting an eternity for you, then so be it." His tone of voice lowered, and as his sincerity prompted him to smile in the face of his own personal oblivion, he told her, "You're worth every second."

And as soon as Anti-Cosmo felt a faint, hopeful fanged smile tug at his lips, he was suddenly interrupted by a large belch heard from Anti-Wanda's cell. It seemed to echo throughout the entire prison and rattle the barred doors of each cell. Even the prisoners inside them groaned.

"Ugh!"

"Gross, dude!"

"I'm a convicted felon and even I think that's nasty!"

Then the sound of laughter erupted from her cell.

Anti-Cosmo stared out of his cell in wide-eyed shock. He found it to be completely unexpected, especially after he bared his soul so freely only moments ago, but it was also an incredibly comforting sound to hear. Anti-Wanda's laughter seemed to be so distant, but to Anti-Cosmo it sounded as if church bells had rang in the distance. His heart hitched in his throat. And as he shook himself out of his frozen state, almost instantly Anti-Cosmo launched himself on to his feet and gripped tightly on to the bars of his cell door, and pressed his forehead against the iron bars as he attempted to look down the corridor towards her cell.

"Anti-Wanda!" He desperately called out for her as he surprised himself by catching up with her humour and found himself laughing alongside her, "You wicked thing, what are you up to in there?"

Suddenly, he felt as if his previous disheartened state had been completely obsolete, as he made out a familiar looking blue hand stretch outwards and peek out of her cell. Although he could barely see through their barred doors, Anti-Cosmo could make out her slender arm bend towards him as far as she could make it. And in her hand, Anti-Wanda gripped on to the cloaking device that Cosmo had created, which had for some strange reason looked as if it had been covered in a sticky substance that dripped over her fingers.

"Cosmo's cloaking device!" He shouted in complete and utter shock as he finally made it out.

"Shh, keep it down!" Anti-Wanda finally spoke up to quieten him and shook the device threateningly towards Anti-Cosmo's direction, and told him under a quietened tone of voice, "I've turned it on, so we should be completely hidden from the guards by now."

"Are you serious?" He asked her with bated breath before jumping backwards at the sight of himself. When he brought his hands away from around the bars of his cell, he noticed how his skin seemed to be more translucent than before, which was an indication that although he could see Anti-Wanda and himself, he was completely invisible to everyone else.

"Cosmo told me how to use the device and asked me to smuggle it in here in order to escape. I ate it before we got caught by Jorgen." Anti-Wanda told him as she brought out her other hand between the bars of her cell to wipe off the remaining droplets of saliva covering the surface of the device, "I smuggled it in my stomach, that's why I had to... um, burp it back up. But all we gotta do now is wait for the guards to come inspect our cells, then we can make a run for it! Pretty smart, huh?"

Anti-Cosmo blinked for a moment as he let the cogs slowly turn in his mind until the concept finally dawned upon him, and his face burst out into an incredibly wide fanged grin,

"Brilliant, that's absolutely brilliant, my dear!" Anti-Cosmo called to her breathlessly as he gripped back on to the bars of his cell, "Well done, my love, I'm so proud of you!"

"I'm proud of my stomach!" She agreed just as happily as she patted the empty remnants of her stomach.

The guards were making their rounds nearby, and Anti-Cosmo had to clamp his hands over his mouth to withhold himself. In times like these, the thrill of escape was much too overwhelming, as he would usually make a clean getaway with a string of maniacal laughter left behind to haunt the guards. Anti-Cosmo's mode of escape was rarely stealthy, so in this case, he had to physically restrain himself from giving in to his maddening villainous urge to laugh.

"Hey! I've got two empty cells over here!" One guard called loudly as he looked over Anti-Wanda and Anti-Cosmo's rooms.

Anti-Cosmo found that restraining himself was getting torturous, especially as the guard seemed to slowly fumble with the cell door keys, and the perspiration crawling down Anti-Cosmo's forehead was going at a much faster pace than this guard.

The cell door squeaked open as the guard stepped inside, erratically looking from left to right in search of Anti-Cosmo, all whilst Anti-Cosmo had slipped under his nose and soundlessly stepped past him. The moment Anti-Cosmo found himself on the outside of his cell door, he looked aside him to find Anti-Wanda was waiting patiently beside him.

Anti-Cosmo had to take a moment to find his balance, as the sight of Anti-Wanda seemed to knock him off his feet. She was a vision to behold. As Anti-Cosmo looked over her figure in orange leaning on one foot, her hand resting on her curved hip as the other gripped proudly on to the device that shielded them both from plain sight, she grinned triumphantly, and her lips framed a wide victorious smirk over her misshapen teeth.

And in her eyes, Anti-Cosmo could see the identical excitement he felt for escape. Their breaths quickened as the guards frantically looked through every inch of their cell, and they knew they had to leave quickly. The looming possibility of being caught once again was electrifying, and in the midst of the energy, Anti-Cosmo launched himself towards Anti-Wanda to take a firm hold of her wrist. Before she even saw it coming, Anti-Wanda suddenly felt herself being pulled forward at an amazing speed as Anti-Cosmo lead her down the dank hallways of the prison. He threaded himself through crowds of guards who looked right through them, marching directly towards their empty cells.

Anti-Cosmo couldn't be silent. He breathed heavily as insane laughter clumsily slipped out. It was an amazing feeling that even Anti-Wanda couldn't help herself being swept along by. They felt the immense power that came from easily shifting by their enemies. It was simply insurmountable. As their laughter sounded and echoed through the entire prison, the guards and the prisoners seemed to be shaking at their knees as the phantom laughter rung through their ears. Anti-Cosmo took pride in knowing that he was surely a man to be feared.

Anti-Wanda tripped and lurched forward as Anti-Cosmo carried her along, and she could only fall victim to the pure ecstasy that they both felt as they burst through the front gates of the prison. They halted at the entrance as the bright gleaming sunlight blinded them for a moment. As their vision blurred, the familiar feeling of liberation after crawling out of the dank pits of prison had overcome them both, as if their fresh freedom had flashed into their eyes.

And as their sight returned, Anti-Cosmo looked beside him, and his breathing was heavy as the perspiration had stuck messy stray strands of blue hair around his face. Then, he felt himself coming down from the natural high as he looked into the desperate eyes of his wife. It was a cruel reality to return to as he realised that Anti-Wanda looked disturbed. Despite how short of breath he was, Anti-Cosmo could clearly see through his exhausted eyes as he figured out why she looked as agitated as she did.

Slowly, and painfully, Anti-Cosmo uncurled his vice-like grip around her wrist and gave her back her freedom. Now, he knew, that Anti-Wanda was truly liberated from the confines of her cell.

"I don't want you to get the wrong idea," she started as she averted her eyes away from him, and wiped away the sweat from her forehead with her forearm, "but you need to stay close to me if you don't want to get caught again. As long as we're nearby this cloaking device, we'll be fine."

"That sounds fair." Anti-Cosmo blurted out truthfully as he couldn't find it within himself to withhold his happiness.

Anti-Cosmo had even found himself to be smiling like the dumb fool that he was reduced to. He had Anti-Wanda back beside him, that was all that mattered to him at that point. Although he couldn't take hold of her like before, as she made it painfully clear that she didn't even want him holding her hand, he was satisfied simply with the distance that she gave him. He wanted her to know that he would give her exactly what she wanted, as he didn't want Anti-Wanda to feel that he owned her. It was more than he could've hoped for.

As they took to the sky and flew side by side in search of the rainbow bridge, Anti-Cosmo gave Anti-Wanda quick side glances as he still couldn't quite get over the overwhelming relief of being by her side again.

"There it is!" Anti-Wanda called to him as she pointed out the rainbow bridge in the distance. They hovered over the elongated slide, looking over the distance it took from there to the surface of the Earth. And as they landed at the very top of the bridge, Anti-Cosmo bravely stepped forward first,

"Good. Now we can continue our search for Timmy so he can wish us out of this mess!" Anti-Cosmo told her as he took a step on to the beautifully multicoloured rays of the bridge.

"Wait!" Anti-Wanda halted him, and Anti-Cosmo froze on command.

As he looked over to his wife, he saw the hesitation in her expression again. She brought her hands together as she fidgeted with her fingers, averting her eyes away from him as her watery gaze squinted with frustration. Anti-Cosmo stepped back off of the bridge and patiently waited for her. He didn't want to rush her, but he had to let her know that he had his ears open for her, at any time.

And she knew. Painfully, Anti-Wanda finally found the courage to speak up, and her voice strained in her throat,

"I heard what you said... in the cell..."

Anti-Cosmo's spine instantly straightened as his eyes flew wide open. He was completely stuck in motion, as he suddenly realised that everything he told her was beginning to sink in. At first, he didn't know what to think as his eyes didn't dare to dart away from her. He saw how she'd deliberately keep her eyes as far away as possible from him, he noticed how she'd chew on her bottom lip with her overbite. Then, he knew. Anti-Wanda seemed to be internally struggling.

Anti-Cosmo was determined to set the record straight.

"I'm glad you heard me." He told her truthfully as he dared to take a step forward towards her, and his eyes softened as his desperation was barely masked in his voice, "Because I meant every word."

Anti-Wanda took a deep breath and closed her eyes. There was a long minute of uncomfortable tension between them, until he watched her shoulders fall with ease. He figured that she'd finally broken down her walls, and perhaps she'd finally seen some kind of positive light out of all of this, until he was stricken from any kind of hope he had for them by what she did next.

Anti-Wanda's hands returned to her sides as she stopped fidgeting. Almost instantly, she stopped all signs of her nervousness and she looked anything but timid. Instead, she straightened herself as she stood firm, and she gradually opened her eyes to gaze towards him.

Anti-Cosmo felt shot in the chest. Her eyes were emotionless. They were hardened, and devoid of any life... or love.

"What if I tell you to leave?" Anti-Wanda asked him with a face of stone, "What if I decide that I don't want you?"

For a moment, Anti-Cosmo felt that he couldn't breathe.

His face went pale for a second before he remembered the ghost of his words returning to him. The fear came back, the hot wash of dread wavered his thoughts as the reality of Anti-Wanda leaving him crept upon him once again. But, he knew that he couldn't be swayed. His resolve had to remain solid, and he looked squarely to her with genuine unshaken sincerity,

"If that's what you decide... then I guess I can't do anything about that." Anti-Cosmo said with a tinge of sadness in his voice, "But you should know... that it won't change how I feel about you. You can tell me to go, you can go on and continue with your immortal existence without me. You can cut me out of your life entirely... but you can't get out of mine. I'll never stop loving you, Anti-Wanda. You _are_ my life. Even if your feelings for me change, and if I go over a thousand more changes... nothing will ever stop how I feel about you."

Anti-Wanda was eerily silent.

It was an agonising few seconds as she looked to the side to gaze longingly at the Earth sitting below their feet. Anti-Cosmo could only interpret this as a sign that she wanted to escape, but he was afraid of exactly what she wanted to escape from. And his fears were heightened when Anti-Wanda turned herself towards the rainbow bridge, as if she was willing to let herself fall off the edge without any indication to him. Anti-Cosmo flinched as he held his hands up, as if to catch her, but he was hesitant whether or not he should.

Then suddenly, his entire being stopped as Anti-Wanda's lips hung open, and she dared to whisper a final reply,

"Okay."

Anti-Cosmo didn't dare to speak up. He was afraid that if he did, he would've ruined everything once again. But his hope returned as Anti-Wanda held on to her arms and looked below him, as if she was forcing herself to gaze directly at his feet. She couldn't quite bring her gaze up to his eyes just yet, but the fact that she faced him at all had to mean something. It was as if her body language was refusing her to leave him at all.

Then, she squeezed her forearms as her shoulders lifted timidly, before she told Anti-Cosmo honestly,

"You know me... I've never been someone to live with anger." Anti-Wanda said with a slightly bashful shrug, "I think that holding on to anger is like... holding on to a hot piece of coal, with the full intention of throwing that piece of coal straight at you."

Anti-Cosmo flinched as Anti-Wanda finally brought her head up to square her eyes at him. He felt as if daggers were being shot out of her gaze. However, the way she had slightly puckered her lips had tempted Anti-Cosmo to laugh. She resembled a sulking child.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't. That would've hurt." Anti-Cosmo told her with a half-hearted smile.

Anti-Wanda, despite herself, gave a half-smile in return as she reluctantly gave into him. As she softly gazed at him, Anti-Cosmo felt his heart lift within his chest as the false prospect of hope for them lit a raging fire in his heart.

Then, as she grasped her fist into a tight ball, as if she was literally holding on to a piece of hot coal, Anti-Wanda gently spoke up once again.

"Then, I realised something. I realised... in the end, I'd be the one to get burned." She opened her fist and longingly stared at her flat empty palm, as if she was setting all of her bitterness free, and whispered, "I know now... it's just not worth all the aches and pains that come with it."

Anti-Cosmo breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had held his breath within him all of this time. Finally, he could relax. He began to realise the true extent of Anti-Wanda's words; she simply wasn't the kind of person who would hold a grudge. She was willing to forgive him. Although he felt that he didn't deserve this kind of justice, he couldn't help feeling... incredibly relieved, to say the least.

As a sarcastic smile brightened his expression, Anti-Cosmo told her with absolute admiration,

"Not that it's any less surprising to me now... but that's pretty wise of you."

Anti-Wanda pouted with mock irritation as he said this.

"You're not going to call me a 'wise old crone' again, are you?" She sulked as she crossed her arms.

"Well, the truth is not always beautiful." Anti-Cosmo teased her while bearing his teeth into a wide smile.

Anti-Wanda peered at him through quizzical eyes before giving into her simple-minded thoughts for a moment. The more she thought to herself, the more she shrank into herself and once again took hold of her arms, and gazed vacantly at the ground as she quietly replied,

"I suppose beautiful words aren't always the truth, either."

Anti-Cosmo's voice hitched in his throat, and his breathing was once again uneven as he realised that Anti-Wanda still had clear doubts about him in her mind.

And yet, he knew that it had always been this way. Even whilst he still had his intelligence, he had relied so much on the words he gave her. He knew now that his appealing words wouldn't save his situation. Anti-Cosmo fixed his eyes on her as his gaze hardened, and Anti-Wanda stiffened. Despite how determined he looked, Anti-Cosmo still couldn't help furrow his eyebrows like a lost child, as he told her sincerely,

"Anti-Wanda, I've never once been dishonest with you. I wish you could believe me." Anti-Cosmo told her truthfully as Anti-Wanda found herself locked in his gaze, "But I've said all I can say to you. There's no certainty that being with me won't be painful... but, y'know, what kind of love doesn't involve the risk of being hurt? I hope you'll take the risk, and have faith that this will work out. Although, it's ultimately your choice, and yours alone to make."

Anti-Wanda took a moment to herself as she held desperately on to her own arms, and fiercely caught her bottom lip with her misshapen teeth to anxiously bite down on it. Then, as if she shook herself away from her hardened shell, she caught Anti-Cosmo completely off guard as she turned to him with a beautiful, grateful smile,

"Thank you for giving me this choice. It means a lot to me that you're willing to put my happiness before yours. It really shows... that you love me..." Anti-Wanda pushed back a few stray strands of curls as she tried to distract herself from the hot red flush speckled over her blue skinned face. She told him gently with a sigh, "This really puts a lot of worries to rest. And it shows that love... truly seems to shine in the most darkest hours. Oh man, how cruel it is."

Anti-Cosmo laughed as he couldn't agree more.

As Anti-Wanda covered her smile with her hand so she could forcefully resist herself from laughing alongside him, Anti-Cosmo crossed his arms as he watched his wife with a half-hearted grin. She caught his gaze as she removed her palm from her lips, and stroked the blue strands of curly hair over her shoulder as she deeply sighed. Although they were physically and emotionally exhausted, they found themselves to be grateful for being by each other's side. Despite the worst moments of this journey, it was still incredible that they could manage to crack a smile together.

Anti-Wanda smiled softly as she realised that despite all the trivial times, after all of the grueling heartache and nagging doubts, she still found herself to have skipped several heartbeats in Anti-Cosmo's presence. That tiny candle she held for him had dimmed, but it hadn't blown out.

And as she bravely stepped towards him, she murmured as if all of her love for him had surfaced to form the words,

"My Anti-Cosmo."

He couldn't have felt any happier at that moment.

As Anti-Wanda took out her hand for him to hold, he didn't hesitate to gently take a hold of it. He laced his fingers around hers and handled his grasp on her as if it were the most precious thing in the world. The warmth of her palms against his was the most comforting feeling to him then, and he didn't feel compelled to unfasten himself from her any time soon. As he smiled to her, his happiness visibly beamed out of his fanged grin, and Anti-Wanda couldn't help it either. She smiled back, squeezing his hand in response, before rolling her eyes for a moment and stepping up to him.

Anti-Cosmo shrunk below her as Anti-Wanda grinned mischievously with one eyebrow raised, and prodded her pointed finger at his chest as she told him authoritatively,

"Don't think you're completely out of the woods yet." Anti-Wanda accused him and stepped backwards to straighten her back and show off her confidence, "I'm not nearly as merciful as I appear to be, you know."

Anti-Cosmo pressed his lips together for a moment to prevent himself from laughing out loud, and suddenly pulled her gently towards him again by the hand. Anti-Wanda regained her balance as her face brightened up in a light glowing red as she almost bumped right into him, and met up with his sarcastic smile.

"Of course you're not merciful," Anti-Cosmo grinned widely, "you wouldn't be with me otherwise."

Anti-Wanda pursed her lips together as she raised an eyebrow at him in an annoyed manner.

"Wouldn't I?"

"Let me rephrase that," Anti-Cosmo said somewhat nervously, before bringing her closer to him again until she was practically restraining herself from inching towards him. Anti-Cosmo told her sincerely, and softly, "It's one of the things I love about you."

Anti-Wanda swallowed a hard gulp.

All of a sudden, she felt incredibly flustered as she steadied herself on her two feet, and desperately averted her eyes to avoid looking back at him to see how genuine he really was. Anti-Wanda was determined to regain her dominance in this situation, but she found that her husband was making it increasingly difficult for her.

As she cleared her throat and as she stepped back to keep a clear distance between them, she kept her hand gripped firmly on his and feigned disgust with a bright red blush washed over her face,

"Alright, Cassanova, let's get out of here before Jorgen can smell the _cheese_ emanating from you."

Anti-Cosmo laughed again as he followed her forward. Anti-Wanda took the lead as she stepped on to the rainbow bridge. She hesitated for a moment to look back at her husband, who was waiting patiently with a calm smile that almost caught Anti-Wanda off guard by how thrown she was by it. She'd seen just how tolerant her husband can be so many times before, and his silent encouragement had never gone unnoticed by her, but this was one of those times where she had truly needed it the most. Anti-Wanda found she needed as much encouragement from him as possible if she were to go through with this.

She quickly turned her head forward to gaze down at the lengthy journey below them, and reflected on the short distance it would take for her to completely forgive Anti-Cosmo. At this rate, she concluded, it was becoming far too easy for Anti-Cosmo to win her over. And the more she realised this, the more she seemed to think... that ultimately, it really didn't matter.

Anti-Wanda pulled him down with her as she jumped off the edge, and took the plunge with him... in every sense of the word.

...

The sun began to rise over the Earth's horizon, painting the surface with it's softened orange glow and stretching over towards the town where Timmy was still missing.

Cosmo and Wanda were still tirelessly searching for Timmy at the skate park, and the time was steadily turning 6am. They felt more than fatigued, but they refused to show it. For them, Timmy was their main concern and they refused to let a little exhaustion get the better of them.

As Cosmo perched on top of a half-pipe to rest for a moment, he was tempted to watch Wanda from afar. She calmly crossed over the yard, and he noticed how she would occasionally rub her weary eyes as if to wipe away the dark circles that gradually appeared underneath them. Cosmo also noticed how her skin was paler than usual, almost completely drained from her usual healthy pink glow that radiated her presence. Cosmo sighed for a moment, and wished he could do more for her.

Yet he was still so torn about himself. He was uncomfortable as a smart man, and felt completely useless as a fool. He was stuck on where his happiness truly was, and whether it was with his wife. At that point, all he knew was that happiness was simple... in concept. It was everything he did to find it that made it much more complicated.

Meanwhile, Wanda sat at the bottom of the half-pipe that Cosmo had perched on, and yawned loudly.

"Are you tired?" Cosmo asked her with genuine concern.

"Yeah, I am." She replied as she smiled weakly over her shoulder at him, and rolled her head to the side to stretch her neck muscles, "I haven't been up this late in a very long time."

"It has been a long time," Cosmo commented with slight surprise as his mind dived into his memories to reminisce, "It's a little strange, considering we used to do this all the time before we became godparents."

"But, you forget, that was when we were practically teenagers," Wanda told him with an eyebrow raised, and before long, she calmly felt caught up in her own memories alongside him, "Do you remember when we were back at the fairy academy? We'd go to those... _insane_ overnight house parties at Cupid's. He practically threw one every night. It's a miracle we got through the academy with passing grades."

"Those parties were pretty wild." Cosmo said quietly with a dreamy smile, before it stretched into a mischievous smirk and caught Wanda off guard for a moment, "But it's not like we were very involved in them... considering the things we'd get up to."

Cosmo's comment flew right over Wanda's head as she slightly squinted her eyes at him in curiosity, and turned herself completely towards him as she crossed her arms.

"Yeah? And what would they be?"

"You remember," Cosmo widely grinned at her as he slightly teased her with an eyebrow raised, "We'd sneak out back to my car, turn on the radio and make out to hard rock songs."

"Oh!" Wanda's eyes flew open as she finally caught on, and the pink colour of her cheeks hurriedly flushed over her pale face. For a moment, she shyly bit down on her bottom lip before the corner of her mouth turned up into a half-smile as she felt her heart beat in her throat. Then, as she peered to the side under her heavy lids, she admitted to him with a low voice, "I've been wondering why I blush every time I listen to Whitesnake..."

"That's your subconscious reminding you that you've kissed me." Cosmo smiled sarcastically and played her on, "More than once, might I add!"

"Ew, gross!" Wanda feigned disgust and completely failed to keep up with this game as she erupted into laughter. Suddenly, her eyes sparkled with nothing but nostalgia as she energetically turned back to Cosmo, "Oh, remember that time when Binky scared the living _hell _out of me one night? We were out in your car in Cupid's parking lot, and suddenly Binky appeared out of nowhere and slammed right into the side of the car door!"

"I remember that," Cosmo laughed alongside her, and his spirits heightened as he leaned down towards her to share her excitement for nostalgia, "Yeah, he stumbled right against the door that you were leaning on. You screamed right in my ear, you banshee!"

Wanda rolled her eyes with a light-hearted smirk.

"You screamed just as loud as I did when Binky vomited down the side of your car."

"Oh man, ugh." Cosmo rubbed his temple and cringed as he recalled that particular moment in his memory. Then, he sighed as he vacantly gazed out towards the rising sun, and vocally continued his thoughts, "Making out in a secluded area, listening to rock ballads from the 1980's and getting terrorised by a drunkard.. sounds like something straight out of a cheesy teen horror film."

Wanda suddenly laughed out loud at the thought, as she knew it was somewhat true.

Then, as she began to calm down, and as she looked over towards the beautiful sunrise behind her, Wanda's expression softened as a gentle smile lit up her face. For a moment, she didn't dare to speak as she simply embraced the comfortable silence she shared with her husband. It was relieving to acknowledge how the tension was temporarily left behind them, and they could share that simplistic peaceful silence that told them there were no words that needed to be said to validate their feelings to one another.

But as the silence stretched on, as Wanda deeply thought back at her happy memories that she shared with Cosmo, one particular instance compelled her to speak her mind.

"I remember something else as well." Wanda began gently, and instantly caught Cosmo's attention, "You were so calm... so completely nonchalant over the fact that Binky had wrecked your car. We hadn't been dating very long at that point so I was sure that you'd have freaked out over the entire thing, but... you surprised me, Cosmo."

"I did?" He asked her with genuine surprise.

"Yes." Wanda confirmed without turning her head away from the rising sun, "You took Binky home in your vomit covered car, you cleaned him up, and you even made sure that he got to his bed alright. You truly showed me how kind you are that night. I was so proud to have called you my boyfriend."

"I don't even remember that part of the night," Cosmo told her truthfully as he rested a thoughtful finger to his chin, "I remember Binky throwing up all over my car, but after that I was sure that I had ruined my entire evening with you."

"Well, I remember that night very fondly." Wanda told him as she turned over her shoulder to smile softly to him, "Cosmo, as long as I've known you, you have often looked back at certain events in your life in a negative light. I don't believe that's a healthy mindset to have. So, I like to remind you that you do have a big heart... under that clumsy exterior of yours."

As Wanda gently laughed to herself, Cosmo felt a little stunned by this. It was beyond him, even in his current state, how he didn't realise that this had become a pattern for him. He knew he didn't think very highly of himself, that much was obvious, but he didn't realise that he had such a negative perspective on life that Wanda had stepped in to help him through it.

Cosmo stared at her a little sadly, and pressed his lips together hesitantly before speaking up to ask her,

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"I'm sure you can figure it out at this point." Wanda sarcastically replied with a small smile.

"I guess... if you had told me this before, I'd have brushed you off. Like I've always done." Cosmo admittedly told her, and his head hung low as he felt a little disappointed with himself by this, "I didn't really think much of what you used to say to me... because I always assumed you were nagging about something stupid I'd done."

Wanda paused for a moment to reflect on this, before looking to the side of her and lowering her voice.

"Perhaps... I do tend to nag more often than I should." Wanda said downheartedly, and hesitated for a moment to awkwardly lace her fingers through her pink curls over her shoulders, before turning back to Cosmo with a complacent smile, and softly spoke up again, "But, I also tell you about all the wonderful things you've done in your life... because, believe it or not, there is a lot of those times."

"I can't believe I never realised this. To be honest, I'm a little shocked." Cosmo told her as if he barely had any breath in his lungs. He anxiously threaded his fingers through his hair and held on to his head as he blankly gazed at the distance, and continued his vocalise his thoughts with a breathless voice, "I've put myself down so many times, I've harshly criticised my own actions because I never believed that I could push past my own capabilities, and I've buried all the accomplishments I've made in my life. If it wasn't for you, Wanda... I don't know where I'd be."

"You'd be fine, honey." Wanda told him tenderly with a gentle hand hovered over her heart, "You've proven so many times before that you can do so much more than you give yourself credit for."

"But how do you think I've been able to do that, Wanda?" Cosmo said quietly, but his voice strained with desperation as the truth began to gradually dawn on him just as the sun rose in the distance. He looked intensely at her, and he watched as the orange glow of the sun caked over her figure as if she was the obvious answer all this time, and she began to shine just as he began to realise this. Cosmo almost hovered off his seat as he stared wide eyed at her in shock, and spoke as if he had been holding his breath all this time, "It's because of you. It's always been you. Wanda, my secret success, my secret to success... you've helped me out in more ways than you can even imagine."

"Cosmo, come on, you know that isn't true." Wanda said gently as her eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"But it is true, don't you get that?" Cosmo interrupted her with pure determination, "I'm so dependant on you... and you want to know why?"

"Okay. Why?" Wanda sighed in defeat as she could see that he was too determined to make his point to her. And as she crossed her arms to listen, Cosmo gazed at her with complete admiration for her, and told with with sincere devotion,

"I rely on your word because I know that I can trust you. You're an honest, compassionate... stubborn woman who isn't afraid to criticise me... but you're also a woman who doesn't hesitate to give me the encouragement and support that I've needed to go on for as long as I have. It's only when I stopped noticing your appreciation that I started to doubt myself so harshly." Cosmo took a moment to himself to breathe. Wanda stared at him as her shoulders fell, as she felt completely moved by his words. And when Cosmo gazed over to her with furrowed eyebrows, he smiled as if he looked totally hopeless, and quietly said with a slight shrug, "So... here I am."

Wanda smiled wider in return. As her eyes grew softer, as the laugh lines around her gentle smile began to deepen, Cosmo knew then that Wanda truly did love him. All those previous doubts and confusing faithless suspicions were completely wiped clean.

"Here you are." Wanda sighed as she couldn't help but furrow her eyebrows to look as hopeless as him, before speaking up just as quietly, and just as sincerely, "I love you, sweetie. I want to let you know that I am proud of you. And I'll tell you this as often as I can, since all the mistakes from your past don't matter _nearly_ as much as all the wonderful things that you've done. So you can focus on what's wrong in your life, or you can focus on what's right... because all I see is a beautiful, kind-hearted man with a lifetime to show for it."

That was it.

Cosmo completely forgot everything he was ever mad at her for. He was completely hers, in every way possible, and he couldn't find a reason within him at that point to do anything that would warrant being apart from her. At that moment, the sky could have fallen and that wouldn't have mattered, because he was with Wanda. The reason he lived, the reason for being, was simply her.

"...I love you." Cosmo subconsciously slipped up before he even realised what he said.

Wanda gave him a small, sad smile.

"Do you?" She asked him softly.

Cosmo's brief lapse of pure devotion to her passed in an instant.

As Wanda leapt up from the half-pipe, Cosmo watched her as she walked over the grounds to continue her search for Timmy. Cosmo shook his head for a moment to mentally remind himself what had got him to that point. He knew that he couldn't blind his reason by his love, to which he realised pretty quickly that it had a powerful hold on him. He knew then that Wanda was a permanent part of him that couldn't simply be cut out of his life. Cosmo needed her. She was ultimately his pillar of support when he truly needed it the most.

Cosmo wondered if she knew that. He wasn't stupid anymore. Those last cryptic words that she left behind wasn't a challenge lost on him. Cosmo knew that Wanda had doubts. Even before all of this, it was possible that Wanda had doubts about his feelings for her. And as Cosmo realised the absolute truth of it all, that he did love Wanda with all of his being, he knew that this entire situation had only made things worse. At one point, he had even alluded to the possibility of ending their relationship...

Cosmo knew just what to do then. His gaze hardened with determination as it had finally dawned on him.

He had to prove to her just how much of an impact she made on him. He had to change into the man he thinks is best for himself... and for Wanda. All this time, he knew that he had been making all the decisions by himself without even considering how Wanda might feel. If he wanted to stay by her side, if he wanted to let her know that he loved her, just as she let him know how proud she was of him, he had to decide if intelligence was best for them... or if it wasn't.

Cosmo peered over to the sunrise once more. The warmth was a little comforting, and a little unwanted. He sighed deeply, pulled his leg up and leant his arm over his knee. As he looked vacantly at the distance, as he watched the town brighten underneath the early morning light, Cosmo dared to flicker his gaze over to Wanda in the distance. She had paused for a moment. Her pink curls had hidden her face, her expression was unknown, but Cosmo could guess that she was sadly staring at the same sun, wondering if Timmy was looking at it too.

Cosmo knew this, not because he was smart, but because he knew his wife. And as he watched his wife with longing, he wondered to himself...

_So... where to go from here?_

…


	11. Act Eleven

...

_Act Eleven: _Timmy

...

The sun was blood red. As it peeked over the horizon line of low mountains in the distance, the thick clouds covered the sunrise like a foggy blanket, as if it were an enlarged fiery orb stuck at the far end of the sky. Beneath the red soaked skies, life appeared to return back to normal. People on their way to work roamed the streets and quietly drifting cars barely lit up the darkened roads.

Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda didn't feel so exposed as their skin tones blended in with the early morning darkness. Whilst they laid low underneath the reddened skies, the drab blue shadows cast over the Earth, and the dull lighting had been evidence of the dawn struggling to break. The street lights flickered on and off as if they were unsure whether or not the night had ended. And pedestrians walked by them like black silhouettes, with expressions on their faces that were blurred by the darkness that masked them. The quiet atmosphere was monotonous... but almost made haunting by these hazy overcast ghosts.

Anti-Wanda steadily paced along pavement closest to the road in order to avoid walking through any rays of light that may expose her. It was too early in the morning for many of the buildings to be open and streaming with life, but the few that had brightened fluorescent neon lights streaming down the pathways had made her too anxious. Anti-Wanda clutched at her arms as she kept her head down, looking warily from both sides to watch out for any unwanted attention.

As she concentrated on calming her nerves, she became surprised by a car quickly driving past her, drenching her whole figure in it's bright headlights. Anti-Wanda had to bite down on her bottom lip to stop herself from shouting out in sheer panic as she watched her shadow on the pavement grow ahead of her. The longer it stretched on the ground, the more she felt her presence becoming all the more helplessly exaggerated... into an open target.

Then suddenly, as soon as he immediately recognised the danger she was in, Anti-Cosmo appeared right behind her and cast his shadow over her. The back of his blue suit blinked in the light before it was washed over in darkness again. And since Anti-Wanda seemed to have frozen in fear, Anti-Cosmo remained still as a statue as he refused to move until she felt safe again. After a few short moments, Anti-Wanda felt the courage to peer to him over her shoulder, and in the corner of her eyes, she watched as Anti-Cosmo's hardened gaze soften as he met hers. He was towering over her as he appeared determined to protect her, like an illuminated knight with a slightly reddened glow as the car flashed its rear lights at him as it raced away.

For a moment, Anti-Wanda felt as if she was looking at a glimpse of his former self, made all the more intimidating by the harsh red highlights that accentuated his luminous emerald eyes. Then she couldn't help herself. She smiled, realising that his vigilant nature hadn't changed, and sighed before she whispered,

"Thank you." She told him sincerely and turned around to the front, darting her eyes over the area to see if anyone noticed them. When it was clear that they hadn't been spotted, Anti-Wanda hesitantly began to step forward again, with Anti-Cosmo close behind her. She spoke up again in a hushed tone, "I'm a little nervous about walking through the populated streets. Even with our wings tucked into our clothes, I feel like we stick out too much. I can't remember if Cosmo ever told me, but I don't know if this cloaking device can shield us from fairies and humans too."

"Well Anti-Wanda, to be brutally honest with you, I'm not willing to test out that theory." He snapped loudly and firmly, until Anti-Wanda stopped in her tracks for a moment to glare back at him. Quickly, Anti-Cosmo pressed his lips into a tight thin line as he realised his mistake, and hung his head a little as if he was a scolded child, "Sorry. I, um, forgot... we have to remain quiet."

Anti-Wanda shook her head dismissively before continuing onwards. Solemnly, Anti-Cosmo trailed close behind, as if he was unwilling to make the distance between them any further apart. He definitely felt uncomfortable with being in the wrong, as it felt incredibly foreign to him. He rubbed his arm dejectedly, and squinted his eyes at his dragging feet before quietly speaking up again,

"I just... I'm worried about you. That's all." He whispered truthfully, and took a slow intake of breath to regain his determination before remorsefully telling her, "I know we're no strangers to dangerous situations like this, but this is the first time that I don't have the capacity to think of a way out of tight spot... that's if we're going to be put into one. I feel like I've been stripped of everything I've put my faith into, and I hate the fact that it could potentially hurt the both of us. And I... I really don't want you to be put in danger because of me again."

Anti-Wanda kept her pace steadily forward, but her gaze wavered to the side of her as she momentarily took this in. For a moment, she wondered if it would be best to say anything back to him, but as much as the quick pace of her heartbeat begged for her to do it, Anti-Wanda remained cautious. She took to the route ahead and shook off her temptations to completely give in to him. After all that had happened so far, Anti-Wanda knew that her indecisiveness wouldn't help matters at all.

So she turned her head slightly without wandering her gaze from the road ahead, and told him sternly with a glazed emotionless expression, though her tone was less confident than before,

"...you should concentrate on finding Timmy for now."

Anti-Cosmo didn't pick up on her unsteadiness, and had only nodded slowly in response and left it at that.

For a while, they wandered through the main streets of the city under the darkened guise of the red sun and remained in a somewhat uncomfortable silence all the way through. Anti-Cosmo kept opening and closing his mouth as he internally struggled with his desire to talk to her, but his nerves kept holding him back. He knew that speaking up freely was easier now that he was unintelligent enough to reject the urge to reflect on everything he said, but that had terrified him as well. Anti-Cosmo latched on to the fear that he may say something he would later regret, and he was already treading on incredibly thin ice around Anti-Wanda.

Anti-Cosmo momentarily thought back to when he finally told Anti-Wanda about his kiss with Wanda, and how he was stricken of the appropriate words he wanted to tell her to make things right. But the horrified expression on Anti-Wanda's face was too heart-wrenching, and that was the moment he knew it was something he definitely wanted to avoid in the future.

So he clamped his mouth shut for a short time, and resisted the temptation to push the subject any further.

As they exited the city streets and approached an area with smaller buildings and less crowds of pedestrians, Anti-Cosmo took unstable steps forward as he could clearly see Anti-Wanda in the daylight. Their surroundings had become less dense, and the dull monotone of the shadows lifted as the sun peaked through the curtain of clouds, draping Anti-Wanda entirely in it's fiery glow.

Although there were fewer people around, Anti-Wanda took more cautious steps ahead as she ducked her head away in an attempt to isolate her from the intruding daybreak. As she did this, Anti-Cosmo resisted the urge to laugh, and broke into half a smile as he rose an eyebrow at her. He strode forward with ease to walk by her side, and dared to bend forward to suddenly level himself and find her gaze.

"You look really suspicious right now." He commented light-heartedly, and flashed a fang as his half-smile widened.

"I do? I'm... seriously trying hard not to be." Anti-Wanda peered to the ground in disappointment at herself.

"If you look like you have something to hide, then you'll look even more guilty." He told her with slight pride that he could at least remember that much from his reduced intellect. Anti-Cosmo straightened his back as he gazed ahead with a small shrug, "Really, the harder you try, the obvious it gets. Just... do your best to act calm."

"But the harder I try to look calm, the more panicked I seem, right?" Anti-Wanda said with slight annoyance, "It's a little more difficult than that for me."

Anti-Cosmo felt a little on edge by the irritated tone she had put on, and remained silent for a moment as he uneasily searched every part of his brain for some kind of solution to calm her down. And when he couldn't think of anything solid, he resorted to Wanda's advice and relied on the first thing that came to his mind. He coughed into his hand in an attempt to clear his throat and gather his confidence before turning over to her again,

"Look, if you're really getting worried about being confronted by humans, why don't we transform into our human disguises? We'll slip by them without anyone knowing the wiser."

"You know we can't." Anti-Wanda said impatiently, clearly uncomfortable with the fact that she had to act as the brains and guide him through this instead of the other way around, like it had been before, "Remember earlier when we changed from our orange prison jumpsuits back into our old clothes? That little bit of magic we used almost brought the entire fairy army down on us. We can't afford to use any more magic here until we find Timmy. Otherwise... we may as well have a target painted on our backs."

"That was just the once though, right?" Anti-Cosmo shouted louder than he hoped as he barely masked his desperation to sound as domineering, "We've made some distance now, we can risk a little costume change."

"It's happened more than once." Anti-Wanda told him with a hardened stare, "Back when I was with Cosmo, when we used our magic to shrink our size, Jorgen was almost right on top of us. We can't afford to take risks now."

"How annoying." Anti-Cosmo seethed. He couldn't stand how Anti-Wanda used Cosmo as a reference... or the fact that she mentioned Cosmo's name at all. His frustration deepened as he looked over their surroundings, observed the repetitive structures of each building that lined up against each other, and Anti-Cosmo wanted nothing more than to point the boiling anger at the pit of his stomach at this aspect, "What's more annoying is how every single human house in this suburban jungle looks the damn same! Really, how hard should it be to find Timmy's home? I mean, it's hard enough trying to find one small child, but how in the hell are we supposed to remember where he lives too? It's as if every single time we take one step forward, we're forced to take two steps back! Damn it!"

Immediately after Anti-Cosmo's tone of voice raised, Anti-Wanda warily turned over her shoulder and noticed one or two heads had turned over their way. A sudden wash of unspeakable dread drained the colour from her face at the prospect of being caught, and in an instant, she saw an upcoming darkened alleyway to the side of them.

Without a moment to spare, Anti-Wanda quickly pushed her hand against Anti-Cosmo's shoulder and shoved him back until they were both covered by the safe shadows that the alley had brought. Anti-Cosmo didn't have the chance to shout in surprise as she did this, since she swiftly placed her open palm over his mouth to muffle his voice. Anti-Wanda pushed him against the brick wall with her other hand and pinned him there until he was rendered helpless, unable to move away from her or make any unnecessary movements. Anti-Cosmo was caged by her, encased in the darkness, a prisoner by default.

For a moment, Anti-Wanda peeked out of the shadows to look out at the street, and she tentatively watched the remaining pedestrians walk by them. It seemed that had been successfully engulfed in the darkness, and Anti-Wanda breathed out a sigh of relief when they appeared to be in the clear.

Unbeknownst to her, Anti-Cosmo hadn't moved an inch, in every way. He felt his heart completely become immobilised in his chest. He couldn't even feel himself blink as his widened eyes were locked on her, even as her fingers brushed against his lips when she brought them away from him at last. And when she turned herself over to him, her eyebrows furrowed upwards into a frown, clearly displaying all of her worry for him. Then, the palm that pushed his torso against the brick wall inched from his chest to lightly touch over his jawline. Anti-Cosmo felt the air from his lungs being drawn out his mouth as he felt her fingers gently move over his ear, until the last of his breath emptied his throat as her thumb softly descended over his cheekbone.

Anti-Cosmo's mind was completely barren of all logical thought. There wasn't a sound in the air. And that pit of anger he held in his stomach had subsided and become completely forgotten.

"Easy now." Anti-Wanda said quietly as she slowly took away her hand from his face, "Breathe for a moment, collect your thoughts, do anything you need to do as long as you stop drawing attention to yourself." Then, her frown quickly diminished as she dared to smile in encouragement, and gently whispered, "Keep up your nerve. You can do it, you always can. It's always been within you."

Anti-Cosmo couldn't feel any anger at all within him, it had depleted the moment that Anti-Wanda had clutched on to him. The world and everything around him became insignificant the moment that she captured him in the shadows of the alleyway, even as he could barely make her out as they hid well within the safe interior. What mattered most to him at that point was the fact that Anti-Wanda had shielded him away from danger, and put aside all of her doubts about him for one moment in order to ensure that he was protected from harm.

Another car drifted by them. The window was rolled down, and the radio was quietly playing "Ooh Child" by The Five Stairsteps. Clarence Burke, Jr.'s soulful voice echoed down the alley.

_Things are going to get easier... ooh child, things are going to get brighter..._

The city walls stopped closing in on Anti-Cosmo. He felt the hope in the lyrics speak out to him, and urged him to hover his hand out towards her. Anti-Wanda watched as he attempted to reach out and touch her face, but gently, she refused it. She took his hand down, gazed at her fingers clasping over his, and silently inched a few steps forward. Anti-Wanda wanted to let him know that he wasn't going to be the one to make up her mind. Slowly and tentatively, she slipped her arm through his, and loosely held on to him. Hopefully, she thought, this would tell him that she was the one ultimately in command of her own decisions.

All of Anti-Cosmo's sceptic thoughts and all of his doubts were wiped clean, with Anti-Wanda protectively hanging on to his arm by his side. It was as if their secluded place in the alley became a whole new world made just for them, as they concealed themselves from the rest of society. No one existed, no lives mattered more than the two invisible anti-fairies, using the darkness as a veil to hide them from the rest of the world.

Then, Anti-Cosmo couldn't restrain his nagging thoughts as a question was burning in his mind,

"Have I always been prone to resort to my short temper like that?" He asked her in utter defeat. Anti-Wanda puckered her lips to the side in thought for a moment before coming up with her answer.

"Well... yeah, more or less. Only this time, you have less of a creative vocabulary, so you're lashing out at the world with shorter words, and with... more, um..."

"Childish outbursts?" He said to her with his eyebrow raised. Anti-Wanda quickly turned her head to him as her mouth hung open to protest, until Anti-Cosmo interrupted, "It's alright, you can say it. It really is as bad as it sounds. And surprisingly, I'm actually finding myself to be more aware of my idiocy." Then, he turned over to Anti-Wanda with a fanged half-smile, "To be completely truthful, I'm also a lot more appreciative of your... tenacity."

"Tenacity?" Anti-Wanda asked, and let her head tilt slightly to the side in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"You know, your perseverance. Your stubborn persistence to stay by my side and keep me out of trouble." Anti-Cosmo looked at her with a hopeless smile and told her with a slight shrug, "I've said this before, I'm simply amazed that you've stood by my side through everything I've put you through, and I don't mean everything that's happened in the last 24 hours, I mean through everything we've been through in the last... ten thousand years..."

Anti-Wanda's playful smile widened over her misshapen teeth as she cheerfully pulled on his arm, and said with a laugh,

"You make it sound like you've put me through absolute Hell all these years!"

"Well... haven't I?" Anti-Cosmo asked her uneasily.

As Anti-Wanda turned to him, she was surprised by how completely serious he suddenly became. His eyes were full of so much fear and internal turmoil over everything that had happened. It was ironic, he felt, that throughout that time as an unintelligent person, Anti-Cosmo had never seen things so clearly. It was as if he'd stepped out of his everyday life to look at everything from a simplistic point of view, and he hated everything he saw.

"Anti-Cosmo," she breathed with a sad frown, and paused for a moment. When she spoke up again, her quiet voice sounded distant, "I suppose I owe you... more of a clear answer."

"That's not what I'm asking from you..."

"I'm giving you one anyway." Anti-Wanda told him firmly and gently pulled on his arm. Although Anti-Cosmo didn't want to push her, he still couldn't help the uncontrollable curiosity that begged him to ask her how she felt about him. It took Anti-Wanda a few short seconds to clear her throat, and clear her mind, before she spoke up again as she caught his curious gaze, "Do you remember what we were talking about just before you told me about what you did with Wanda?"

Anti-Cosmo blinked at her.

"Yes, you said you didn't have much of an idea of what marriage was, and you were scared about marrying me."

"Um, yeah, that was part of it." Anti-Wanda said with a sigh and a sad smile, and shook her head at the fact that Anti-Cosmo seemed to emphasise the only negative aspect of that conversation. She squeezed his arm to comfort him, "But I followed that up by saying that although our marriage isn't perfect... when it all comes down to it, I'm simply happy just to be with you."

"Oh." Anti-Cosmo said in surprise, and his eyebrows rose as he suddenly recalled that part of the conversation. He was shocked at himself that he'd forgotten the most comforting part of their talk, although he also remembered that moment had been spoiled for him once he was knocked to the ground by Cosmo.

Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo stiffened as Anti-Wanda brought herself closer to him, and wrapped his entire arm in a tight embrace. Hesitantly, she spoke hoarsely as if there was barely any air left in her throat,

"Then, when we were locked in prison, you said you'd wait for me if I ever told you to leave. At the time, I felt so much hurt that... I didn't want to give you the satisfaction of knowing that in the end, no matter how much hurt I really felt..." Anti-Wanda brought her eyes up to lock her gaze with his, and told him quietly as her voice faltered, "...I'm still in love with you."

Anti-Cosmo didn't dare to move an inch.

It was as if time had moved backwards to the moment when he first heard those words from her, and how incredibly floored he was by the concept of it all. Anti-Wanda still loved him. She said it as if her heart was practically on the tip of her tongue. And, for a few short moments, Anti-Cosmo couldn't believe this was real. Yet the way she held him close to her, as if he was restrained in her embrace, made it easier for him to believe that this was truly reality.

Anti-Wanda bashfully ducked her head beneath his gaze as she couldn't quite take the way he looked at her then. The fear had been replaced with so much love for her, she felt as if her face had burnt red with colour. Anti-Wanda leant her head against his shoulder, and attempted to hide her blushing. Then, she quietly continued from there,

"It took all that I had within me not to answer you back while we were locked up in prison. I could hear how upset you were... I could hear it in your voice, I knew how much it really hurt you as much as it hurt me... but I kept silent. I wanted to know for sure that I could make my own decisions with my life, I wanted confirmation in my faith that everything would work out between us." Anti-Wanda sighed again as she tried to be as open and honest as possible with him, and took a deep intake of breath before her muted voice slightly rose, "So I've kept silent... kept you at arms length... until I knew for sure that I'm capable of thinking reasonably... instead of thinking only through my feelings."

Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo carefully shrugged Anti-Wanda off his shoulder to catch her gaze, and stared at her with shocked, widened eyes. When he spoke, he could barely make a sound,

"Anti-Wanda... are you saying..."

"Yes, I've been trying to use my brain." She rolled her eyes at the obvious with a sarcastic smile, although her face was still flushed with an abundance of colour, "You're not the only one who feels like they've changed throughout this whole ordeal. Man, do I have to spell it out for you?"

"No, this is good." He said incredulously as his fanged smile grew larger, "I'm glad you're starting to think for yourself. I've been worried for so long about how you seemed to be happy enough doing whatever I told you to do. I want you to be more independent, I want you to do everything you want to do, instead of idly sitting on the sidelines, waiting to aid me in my personal goals." Anti-Cosmo brought his free hand and placed it softly over her shoulder, and protectively held on to her as he told her with genuine sincerity, "I don't want to tie you down. I've never wanted that out of you. More than anything, I want you to be happy doing what you've always wanted to do, regardless of what I want."

"I... really appreciate this." Anti-Wanda sighed with total happiness. For a moment, she gazed away from him as she finally slipped her hands from around his arm. Then she slowly grasped a hold of his hand on her shoulder. As she clasped his hand tightly, and as she felt extreme comfort from the feel over his slender fingers in her palm, she looked to him with luminescent rose eyes piercing through the darkness, "Until today, I've never been given a reason to think selfishly, since what made me happy was seeing you achieve your dreams and aspirations. And when I asked you what you'd do if I wanted you to leave, even in the face of separation, you still gave me my freedom in hopes that it gave me happiness."

She lightly stroked her thumb over his hand as she took a slow step towards him,

"That's when I thought... Anti-Cosmo, in all the time that you've known me... have you ever thought about what you want for yourself?"

It didn't take Anti-Cosmo more than a second to figure out what he wanted more than anything at that moment. As he slowly placed his free hand to Anti-Wanda's bare shoulder, and as he let his fingers lace through her blue curls spilling over her collarbone, his eyes squinted as he couldn't restrain the desperation in his voice,

"I want you to stay with me."

Anti-Wanda smiled as she gazed at his hand that she had clasped in hers.

"You said that when I left with Cosmo earlier, didn't you?" Anti-Wanda asked quietly, and somewhat distantly, "That was the only moment when I truly saw what you wanted. It took... everything I had to stay mad at you. And I could see it took everything in you to stop yourself from following me. In the end, you still respected what I wanted."

Anti-Cosmo remained silent as he remembered the exact moment when he reached out for Anti-Wanda's hand, desperately hanging on to her in a feeble attempt to keep her near him. He remembered how hopelessly lost he felt, and how his feelings took complete control of him. It was something new and foreign to him, but he also remained silent in knowing... he wouldn't have done it any other way.

"I've not been fair to you." She whispered sadly as she avoided his gaze, and vacantly stared at the ground beneath them, "I was so confused... distracted by everything I love about you in another man... and I had the audacity to be blinded by anger when you were the one to act upon impulse when it could have easily been me, stumbling like a drunken fool... kissing anything that remotely reminded me of you."

Despite how solemn Anti-Wanda had sounded, Anti-Cosmo smirked into a sarcastic smile as he raised an eyebrow at her, and gently pulled at her blue curls as he feigned annoyance.

"You would have, huh?"

"I would have... yeah, I might've kissed a hat rack if you left your bowler hat on it!" She couldn't help the urge to laugh aloud at the entire concept, and loosely held her fingers over her widened smile in an awful attempt at withholding her laughter, "And who knows what might have happened if I'd have been transported to England. I would have been completely overwhelmed by how many people had an accent like yours. Oh man, I would've kissed the Queen!"

Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo burst out into laughter alongside her. He brought her hands to himself to hold on to his sides to keep himself from splitting, and Anti-Wanda felt she could barely breathe as she desperately tried to wipe away the escaped tears from her eyes. As Anti-Cosmo held out his arm to lean his palm flat against the wall for support, while Anti-Wanda collapsed against it as she threw her head back against the bricks, her blue curls were pushed forward to frame her heart shaped face.

Eventually, as their laughter died down, Anti-Cosmo could only smile at his wife. As Anti-Wanda messily wiped the last of her tears along her forearms, and as her shoulders rose with the last of her escaped giggles, she smiled back with her usual, cheerful toothy grin.

"We're just a couple of idiots." She commented light-heartedly.

"Yeah." Anti-Cosmo gave her a hopeless smile, as he knew he had to agree.

Anti-Wanda was so incredibly relieved, as was Anti-Cosmo, by how easily they found themselves to be laughing alongside each other once again. It was as if nothing had changed between them all this time, despite what they had been through. And once everything they wanted to say to each other was out and in the air, it was as if everything was clearer, everything was better.

Slowly, Anti-Wanda pushed herself up from the brick wall, and turned over to Anti-Cosmo with her hands clasped together in front of her. She kept her careful gaze on his, and refused to move her eyes on him, as she approached him closely, until they were only inches apart from one another.

"So, here's my answer. Simple and clear." Anti-Wanda brought her face close to his, and lightly brushed her cheekbone against his as she moved her lips next to his ear, and uttered the words, "I forgive you."

Anti-Cosmo breathed out as if he'd just discovered air for the first time.

With no time to spare, as Anti-Wanda gradually moved away from him, Anti-Cosmo halted her before she could move any further away. On impulse, he caught the side her neck in his palm as he buried his fingers through her hair, and stretched his thumb over her jawline. The warmth of her cheeks grew hotter as colour rushed to her face, and his mouth dropped slightly as he stared longingly at Anti-Wanda's lips through heavily-lidded eyes. He'd slowly pulled them apart with his thumb, traced a line over the indentations on her bottom lip where her teeth usually lay, and eyed the deeper indents at each corner of her mouth, knowing full well how those were caused.

And gradually, Anti-Cosmo leant closer to her, slowly closed his eyes, wrapped his free arm around her waist, and pushed his fangs down where these indents lay.

Anti-Wanda clasped on to his broad shoulders for support, as she almost leant back by how forceful Anti-Cosmo's kiss had become. It was as if she could feel how much he wanted this, and how much he longed for this, so she couldn't restrain her smile. When Anti-Cosmo could feel Anti-Wanda's lips widen against him, he pulled back curiously to find her in an almost dazed state of happiness. Anti-Cosmo flashed his fangs in a hopeless smile as he slowly breathed out, and simply looked at her. She was emanating happiness, and it shot through his fast-beating heart. He could've held her like that for a long time.

"I... hope this means you're not warming up to my idiocy." Anti-Cosmo said half-heartedly as he tangled his fingers through her blue curls, "I'm telling you now, this is a refundable trait. As soon as we find Timmy, we're picking up everything we've left off. That spot on our couch is practically still warm."

"I can't wait." Anti-Wanda said softly with an upbeat grin. And as much as she wanted to stay in his arms like that, she slightly pulled herself away from him, and peered over his shoulder at the brightened neglected world outside their alleyway, "But here's a question, any idea on how to find Timmy at this rate?"

"Hmm." It took a moment to fully force himself to unwrap himself from around his wife, but as he pulled away and stepped back slightly out of the shadows, Anti-Cosmo looked around at the empty streets. The sun painted the sky in every shade of orange, and speckles of red clouds decorated the space above them. The streets were eerily quiet, and devoid of any life as the road stretched out towards the distant horizon. Anti-Wanda peered around the edge of the alleyway and darted her eyes to every direction, until Anti-Cosmo pointed towards a large house at the far end of the street, "Does that house look familiar to you?"

Anti-Wanda rose an eyebrow as he'd pointed out an isolated house situated right beside an outstretched pair of train tracks. There wasn't anything special about that house that stuck out to her, and as she squinted her eyes towards it, she turned warily to Anti-Cosmo who had already began to wander out of the alleyway towards it's direction.

"Anti-Cosmo, what are you suggesting exactly?" Anti-Wanda asked cautiously as she quickly caught up to his quick pace. And as Anti-Cosmo crossed the road with Anti-Wanda tentatively latching on to his arm once again, he turned to her with an untroubled smile.

"C'mon, love, what have we got to lose? Let's just check it out..."

"Are we really going to go from home to home until we find the correct house? Is that what you're telling me?" Anti-Wanda quizzed him as they carefully approached the pathway leading up to the front door of the house. When Anti-Cosmo looked from both sides of him to see if the coast was clear, he met up with Anti-Wanda's sceptical gaze and smiled again.

"Would it be stupid of me if I said yes?"

Anti-Wanda furrowed her eyebrows in exasperation, and only sighed as Anti-Cosmo caught on to her arm to lead her gingerly across the yard towards the side of the house.

The street light at the end of the pathway was flickering on and off, blinking in their eyes every so often as they ducked underneath the windows of the front rooms. Anti-Cosmo lead her away from the front door and cautiously dived through the bushes leading up to the balcony situated on the other side of the house. As Anti-Cosmo peaked over the cover of the bushes, and once he concluded that there was no one around to spot them, he held out his hand for Anti-Wanda to hold as he clutched at the trunk of a nearby tree, leaning directly on to the balcony porch.

"Do you have any idea how big this town is?" Anti-Wanda whispered to him in a sharp tone as they struggled to make their way up the side of the tree, "I'm pretty sure it takes over, um... sixty-percent of the Earth!"

"I really don't think it's that large." Anti-Cosmo rolled his eyes, although he wasn't all that sure of this himself. As he hopped up to a sturdy branch that lead straight on to the balcony, he carefully pulled Anti-Wanda up beside him and protectively clutched on to her as the branch dangerously shuddered through every step that they took.

"I'm sure it is that big! Earth looks so tiny from Anti-Fairy world, this planet can't hold more than a few cities, surely." She whispered sharply as they carefully shuffled across the branch.

Anti-Cosmo jumped from the edge of the branch and landed safely on to the darkened balcony, and crouched down to hide himself from the intruding sunlight. Then he held his arms up, ready to catch Anti-Wanda as she leapt out of the tree and landed in a messy heap on top of him.

"Anti-Wanda, I may be stupid, but I still have some kind of concept of perspective." Anti-Cosmo told her quietly as he staggered to his feet and brushed himself off. As Anti-Wanda wandered to her feet and followed his steps close behind him, Anti-Cosmo approached the glass balcony doors and pushed his face against the panes to peer inside. The bedroom inside looked fairly large, with one source of light coming from the far side of the room. And as soon as Anti-Cosmo spotted a small silhouette standing in front of it, he took this as an opportunity. "Here, let me show you."

Slowly and silently, Anti-Cosmo opened the balcony door and cautiously swung it open for them to step inside. Anti-Wanda hesitantly kept herself hidden behind Anti-Cosmo as he turned her over to the small figure on the far end of the bedroom.

"You see that little kid over there?" Anti-Cosmo asked her in the quietest voice he could create as he pointed over to the figure, "He looks pretty small from where we're standing, right?"

"Yeah, that's true. I didn't think human children could be that tiny!" Anti-Wanda said with her mouth agape in awe.

"That's what perspective is. That little kid is small because we're far away from it. If we walk closer to it, then it'll start to get bigger. Come on, I'll prove it."

Slowly, Anti-Cosmo took careful and gradual steps towards the small figure with Anti-Wanda anxiously close behind him. As they stepped closer and closer to the child, Anti-Wanda's eyes widened in surprise as she squeezed Anti-Cosmo's arm in complete amazement.

"Oh wow, he's growing!" She whispered, although the volume of her voice unintentionally rose from her astonishment.

"You see?" Anti-Cosmo smirked with pride at his ability to gather that much information after all that's happened, and he could feel his ego returning just from that small personal victory.

Suddenly, without warning, the little kid turned around on his heel towards them, and crossed his arms,

"You're smart enough to know what perspective is, but you're not smart enough to recognise the little kid you've been staring at this whole time?"

Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda felt their mouths drop open in utter shock.

"Timmy?!" Anti-Wanda shouted as she jumped back with surprise. Meanwhile, Anti-Cosmo felt unsteady on his feet as he warily stepped towards Timmy with complete bewilderment.

"Timmy! It's you!" He breathed as if he'd just been punched in the gut.

"Yeah, why are you surprised to see me?" He asked with an eyebrow raised, and took a step backwards as he warily looked over how awe-stricken they both looked. It wasn't lost on Timmy when he noticed the dark circles around their eyes and how pale their faces had become.

"That's incredible! The first house we break into turned out to be the right one!" Anti-Wanda turned to her husband as she attempted to balance herself on his shoulder. Then her eyes gleamed with pride for him as her grin widened, "You're smarter than you look, Anti-Cosmo, you must've known that this was Timmy's house all along!"

"Hate to wound your ego, but this isn't my house." Timmy suddenly interrupted them, and in unison, the anti-fairies turned over to him in confusion, "This is actually my friend AJ's house. Are you saying you guys had no idea where I was all this time?"

"AJ?" Anti-Cosmo squinted his eyes for a moment as he thought to himself, and wondered why that sounded so familiar to him. Suddenly, as the cogs turned in his mind, and then as the answer hit him like a ton of bricks, Anti-Cosmo's head shot up as he yelled in total surprise, "AJ... of course! You wished you could go to AJ! Wow... that's so _stupid_!"

"Hey, you're the one that granted the wish." Timmy said with annoyance. As he unwound his arms to drop them by his sides, he looked over their fatigued appearances once more before he commented, "I was just as surprised to be here as you guys are. Originally, I wanted to wish for a jet ski and get out of that lodge. It was getting a little suffocating in there." As Timmy's voice trailed away, he remembered exactly what happened the last time he saw Anti-Cosmo, and looked over to him warily, "By the way, did you fix things with Wanda after..."

Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo hurriedly waved his hands dismissively at him as he felt himself working up a cold sweat under the hardened stares of his wife and Timmy.

"Yeah, it's all... look, don't worry about it, everything's fine now." Anti-Cosmo assured him desperately as he felt Anti-Wanda's suspecting gaze burning a hole on the side of his head.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it." Timmy said truthfully and sighed, then he lazily rubbed his eyes in a vain attempt to rid the dark circles from underneath his eyes, "I was worried about you guys all night. I barely slept."

"We've been up all night too, looking for you." Anti-Wanda told him as she finally approached him. As she could finally see Timmy safe and sound before her, she felt that she could relax for the first time all night. Then she quickly glanced around the room, "So you slept here?"

"I did." Timmy answered, and eyed the sleeping bag underneath his feet, "AJ kinda freaked out when I suddenly appeared in his backyard, but he let me sleepover after I convinced him that I was trying to hunt down Bigfoot."

"Wow, really? Did you catch him?" Anti-Wanda stared at him without an ounce of sarcasm in her wide eyes.

"No, Anti-Wanda, I'm just really terrible of thinking up lies on the spot." Timmy told her as he pressed his lips together to restrain his laughter at how gullible Anti-Wanda really was, before turning towards Anti-Cosmo to stare at him accusingly, "You didn't exactly give me any time or warning, since a second before all that happened, I was trying to think of a way to fix the mess that you made with Wanda. Next thing I knew, I was squatting in the bushes outside of AJ's house."

Anti-Cosmo rubbed the back of his head as he felt ashamed by how he handled that situation, and quickly looked to the side to avoid Timmy's incriminating gaze. There wasn't much Anti-Cosmo thought he could say or do to make up for that, so the best he could do was shrug slightly and bask in his own humiliation.

"Sorry about that... I was pretty frazzled." Anti-Cosmo said as he finally managed to bring his eyes up.

"No kidding." Timmy crossed his arms together and frowned.

"I won't make any more mistakes like that again, you can trust me on that." Anti-Cosmo told him sincerely as he brought his hand down to ball it into a fist, gesturing that he was determined to make things right from then on. And in an instant, Anti-Cosmo strode toward Timmy to take him suddenly by the shoulders, and Timmy leant backwards as he was instantly intimidated by Anti-Cosmo's hardened stare, "Listen, Jorgen's hot on our trail, and we tried reasoning with him, but it's no use. The guy's stuck on the idea that Cosmo and I have switched appearances, so we don't have any other choice but to make your wish to return everything back to normal right now."

Timmy pursed his lips as he brought his hands together to fidget with this fingers, and remained in an uncomfortable silence underneath Anti-Cosmo's frightening demeanour. As Anti-Cosmo's grip on his shoulders tightened with impatience, he squinted his eyes at Timmy in total confusion, and looked up and down at him for some kind of sign. But Timmy remained vigilant, and mute.

"What are you waiting for, kid?" Anti-Cosmo urged him as he failed to mask his anxiety.

Timmy silently looked for the right words to use in order to break the news to him. So he squared his feet on the ground as he mentally scolded himself to be courageous, and finally looked into Anti-Cosmo's desperate eyes.

"I don't know... I should talk to Cosmo about this," Timmy said, somewhat quietly and reluctantly, "He was the one who wanted me to make this wish in the first place... so I'd feel better about making this wish if we consulted Cosmo first..."

"Oh, for..."

All of a sudden, an intruding noise sounded from the other side of the bedroom door, and all three of them darted their heads towards it. They froze on the spot, as they momentarily processed the fact that AJ was gradually climbing the stairs towards his bedroom. Suddenly, without a moment to spare, Timmy shoved Anti-Cosmo's hands off from his shoulders and grabbed a hold of his wrist. And once he took a tight hold of Anti-Wanda's arm with his other hand, Timmy pulled them with full force and lead them to the en suite bathroom on the far side of the bedroom, and quickly slammed the bathroom door behind them to lock it.

Timmy leant his ear against the wood to brace himself, and very quietly heard the sound of shuffling from the other side. It was definitely AJ, Timmy concluded, and he held his breath as he heard AJ momentarily hover in the room, before he left the room again once he acknowledged that Timmy must be preoccupied with the bathroom.

As Timmy breathed out into a deep sigh, Anti-Cosmo suddenly towered over him, and his enlarged shadow engulfed him entirely. Timmy was filled with dread as he backed up against the bathroom wall and found himself cornered, and locked into Anti-Cosmo's terrifying glare.

"Listen up, kid." Anti-Cosmo hissed through gritted teeth as he grasped a fistful of Timmy's collar, "Anti-Wanda and I have already been captured and sent to jail, so those fairies are more than a little anxious to get us back behind bars, so if you don't want the consequences to fall upon Cosmo, _your_ precious fairy godfather, then I suggest you start wishing, pronto!"

"It's a little more complicated than that!" Timmy dared to defend himself as he held up his hands in surrender, "I want to hear this from Cosmo himself, and I want to make sure he doesn't end up getting hurt. Surely you can wait just a little longer until we've sorted things out?"

Anti-Cosmo held Timmy's gaze for a moment, and he knew deep down, he was stuck. Timmy didn't look like he would be pushed around by anyone, and Anti-Cosmo didn't have the time to press him any further. He knew he needed him to make this wish, so he found himself at the mercy of Timmy's terms, whether he liked it or not.

Anti-Cosmo dropped his clothes in total disdain, and turned to Anti-Wanda with a snarl. She could only shrug helplessly in reply, as she knew they both had no other choice. Timmy patted his clothes down, and asked them warily,

"So, where is Cosmo and Wanda?"

"I don't know!" Anti-Cosmo shouted over his shoulder as he crossed his arms in a sulk, "I imagine they're still looking for you!"

"Then let's go find them." Timmy said calmly, completely dismissing how childish Anti-Cosmo was acting at that moment. Then, with extreme caution, Timmy cracked the bathroom door open by an inch to peak through, before whispering over to the anti-fairies and flicking his eyes quickly to the side, "You guys go out the window and meet me outside. I'll say goodbye to AJ and meet you there in a couple minutes, then we can go look for them. Does that sound good?"

"Sounds like a plan." Anti-Wanda nodded with satisfaction as she peered over to Anti-Cosmo for confirmation. And as soon as she looked over to him, Anti-Cosmo quickly turned away as if he shrugged the matter carelessly off his shoulders and headed straight towards the window. With a roll of her eyes, she followed quickly after him as she figured he was simply brooding over the fact that nothing was going his way.

Anti-Wanda and Anti-Cosmo managed to climb out the window, jump into the bushes below them, and pace back to the street without getting noticed by anyone nearby. The street was still fairly empty, and the street light had finally decided to turn off while the sky grew brighter to welcome the morning. Anti-Wanda idly leant against the street light, and rested her head back against the pole as her eyes wandered to the barely visible moon in the sky. As she dreamily kept to herself, and as she felt a clearly lighter atmosphere all around her, Anti-Cosmo lingered next to the train tracks beside AJ's home, and peered along the rustic boards. And the fading aesthetic reminded him of a certain location...

"Do you think Cosmo and Wanda would try looking by the abandoned train tracks again?" Anti-Cosmo asked from afar, and snapped Anti-Wanda out of her idle thoughts.

"It wouldn't hurt to try." Anti-Wanda called back with a lazy shrug, "By the way you found Timmy just now, I have no doubt in your intuition."

"That was incredibly lucky, huh?" Anti-Cosmo said incredulously, as he could barely believe it himself.

"I wouldn't say it was luck as much as it was your good senses." Anti-Wanda told him with an encouraging smile, "You've got to wonder, maybe intelligence isn't the only thing you excel in. I mean, you've always have an ability to trust your instincts."

"You think so?" Anti-Cosmo honestly never gave it much thought. After finding Timmy as fast as he did, he genuinely put the thought aside to wonder about it later. He was torn between the idea of accidentally coming across Timmy on an incredibly lucky whim, and the idea that there was something within him that pointed him to that house. At that moment, he didn't know the answer indefinitely, but he knew he'd be a fool if he ruled it out completely.

Just then, Timmy walked out of AJ's home as he waved goodbye to him and shut the front door behind him. And as soon as the door slammed shut, Anti-Cosmo's foolish mind drew a total blank, and he forgot all about it.

…

It took a few hours to reach the abandoned train stop by foot, and in that time, Anti-Cosmo had been given time to lament to himself. He wasn't capable of thinking of too much, and he often became distracted along the way, but in all of that time to walk to the train stop... he thought about nothing but Cosmo.

Timmy and Anti-Wanda were occupying themselves with silly conversations while Anti-Cosmo trailed behind with his head tucked down to the floor, and while he stared at his sluggish feet as they dragged themselves over the ground, he isolated himself from the two as he kept his thoughts to himself. Anti-Cosmo recalled how this whole situation started; how he was greeted by Cosmo on his door step, and as he was challenged to a childish game of chess. He recalled the utter humiliation of succumbing to this challenge, and afterwards, his slow realisation that the reason he couldn't come up with any witty insults or clever put-downs was all because of Cosmo.

He took away his intelligence. He took away his pride, his confidence, his faith in everything he believed in about himself... and in doing so, he hurt the woman he never in his life wanted to hurt. Anti-Cosmo couldn't stand for it. It had become beyond personal. Every step Anti-Cosmo took as an idiot became an assault on his ego, and every breath Cosmo took was a slight on his pride. That pit of anger returned, and boiled at the pit of his stomach as it grew and grew the more he dared to think of his name.

_Cosmo... Cosmo... Cosmo..._

The unrelenting anger prompted him to clench his fists by his sides, furrow his eyebrows in a permanent state of fury, as he glared at the route ahead... and anticipated the dreaded moment of seeing his despised counterpart once again.

Finally, they arrived at the train stop. And surprise, surprise, Anti-Cosmo thought with utter disdain, his instincts were right again. There they were, hovering above the platform as they desperately searched every inch of the area. Timmy cried in happy surprise as he saw them ahead, and almost flew through the entangled foliage that covered the train tracks beneath his feet.

"Timmy?" Wanda called out in desperation as she turned towards the sound, and the moment she saw him running at full speed towards her, Wanda's face almost broke into happy tears as she darted immediately towards him with her arms open wide, "Oh thank goodness, Timmy!"

"Hey, Timmy!" Cosmo shouted in equal relief as he began to fly towards Timmy, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

The moment that Wanda caught Timmy in her tight embrace, and the second that Anti-Cosmo laid his furious eyes at his counterpart grinning in relief in the distance, Anti-Wanda jumped backwards in complete surprise as Anti-Cosmo ran past her at a terrifying speed. She watched in horror as Anti-Cosmo's wings sprung from his clothes, as if she had just witnessed the image of a frightening dragon unfurling his large wings for the first time. And she shouted in terror as he leapt directly towards Cosmo,

"No, Anti-Cosmo!"

As soon as he heard her blood-curling scream, Cosmo barely managed to turn slightly to see Anti-Cosmo come up from the side of him and knee him in the stomach. Cosmo shouted out in extreme pain as he doubled over, and dropped to the ground in a defeated heap.

"Cosmo! Oh no, not again!" Wanda yelled in disdain as she protectively clutched on to Timmy to keep him safe. Timmy looked over to her with a horrified expression, and warily asked her,

"Again? This has happened before?!"

As much as Timmy struggled within her grasp, Wanda pulled him off to the side of the platform and clasped on to him with all of her strength, as she wasn't willing to see him get hurt in the midst of this fight. Then, she fought the urge to avert her eyes from the horrendous sight of her husband struggling in pain on the ground, and clutched on to Timmy in fear for both of them.

"Anti-Cosmo... what the hell..." Cosmo staggered to his knees as he spat to the ground, and winced in pain once more before bringing his head up to lock eyes with Anti-Cosmo, who only glared with utter hatred in return, "...do you... seriously want to start this again?"

Anti-Cosmo snorted with disgust, and hovered to the floor to square his feet on the ground, and forced his trembling fists to remain by his sides. He itched to use them, but he managed to restrain himself as he felt his voice rip through his throat when he loudly shouted in fury,

"Your 'ingenious' plan got Anti-Wanda and I captured, dammit!"

For a moment, Cosmo looked at him with a completely dumbfounded expression, before he quickly remembered what Anti-Cosmo was referring to. He immediately remembered how he had pinned Anti-Cosmo down in Timmy's bedroom and forced him to swap appearances against his will. He recalled how Anti-Cosmo willingly went along with Cosmo's proposal as Jorgen grabbed a hold of him, and sent him to jail in place of Cosmo... when, ultimately, Cosmo could have gone along to prison and made an escape just as easily.

"Are you serious?" Cosmo spat with animosity, "You got out of jail in the end, didn't you? What does it matter if I swapped places with you? The plan worked out!"

"What if it didn't, huh? What if those guards found out about your 'brilliant' cloaking device and prevented us from breaking out?" Anti-Cosmo seethed through gritted teeth. Then, he took a quick, sharp step forward as he furiously continued, "You sly son of a... I bet you were hoping we'd get stuck in prison! You planned for that to happen so we'd be out of your way, didn't you? How idyllic. With the enemy safe behind bars, you'd be free to use that smart, manipulative brain of yours to find your godson and reconcile with your wife."

Cosmo's eyes widened as he couldn't believe what he was being accused of. It took more than a few seconds for Cosmo to restrain himself to his spot, and keep him from flinging his entire being at Anti-Cosmo with full force. But he kept pushing Cosmo's resentment further as Anti-Cosmo dared to slowly smirk, as if he was practically laughing in his face.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Anti-Cosmo glared at him with a shrewd half-smile, "You're a real narcissist, Cosmo."

Suddenly, everyone jumped and shouted in surprise as Cosmo instantly flew forward at an incredible speed, and swung his arm out to punch Anti-Cosmo squarely in the face. Anti-Cosmo immediately anticipated that reaction, and as quick as he saw it, Anti-Cosmo retained his smirk and stepped to the side as Cosmo's fist flew right by his head. And just as quickly, Anti-Cosmo threw himself to the floor without a moment to spare, took a firm hold of the ground and tucked his legs in to briskly kick his feet up towards Cosmo's head.

Anti-Cosmo's smirk abruptly faded away as he saw Cosmo successfully duck to the side in time to avoid this attack, and as he shouted in total surprise, Cosmo managed to swing his leg around as he saw the opportunity to land a swift and heavy kick to the side of Anti-Cosmo's torso. He flew to the side like a rag doll.

"Anti-Cosmo, no!" Anti-Wanda cried in terror as she squeezed her hands together in a tight embrace.

Whilst Anti-Cosmo struggled to regain a steady stance in mid-air, Cosmo took advantage of this opportunity once again and leapt towards him in the air. Cosmo was only a few inches away from him when Anti-Cosmo suddenly swung his legs to the side, and swiftly swept at Cosmo's feet and sent him spiralling upwards until his legs were thrown above his head.

Cosmo's cried out in surprise as his head flew forward, and quickly became an open target for Anti-Cosmo to land a harsh punch towards his face. Thankfully, Cosmo's mind worked faster than Anti-Cosmo's movements, as Cosmo brought his hands down to the ground to hastily push himself backwards into the air, and missed Anti-Cosmo's attack by a clear few inches.

For a few confusing seconds, Anti-Cosmo looked desperately to the sides of him as he suddenly lost sight of Cosmo, and as soon as he heard the sound of Cosmo maliciously grunting above him, Anti-Cosmo leant back and jumped unsteadily backwards into an uneven back-flip before Cosmo could land a devastating blow to the top of his head. However, while Anti-Cosmo had teetered backwards and slipped for a split second while he had his legs in the air, Cosmo quickly grabbed hold of Anti-Cosmo's ankles and threw him towards the sky, and back down again to slam him down against the hardened concrete.

Anti-Wanda covered her eyes as she whimpered helplessly from the sidelines, whilst Anti-Cosmo arched his back from the sheer pain that shot down his spine. And before Cosmo could land one final punch to his head, Anti-Cosmo managed to roll over to his side just in time. Cosmo paused in mid-air the moment he saw Anti-Cosmo avoid his fist, as Cosmo learned from their earlier fight that a punch towards the ground could mean potentially cracking his knuckles against the floor once again.

Anti-Cosmo barely managed to stumble to his feet as he held on to his stomach and breathed heavily, which was painful as he felt a sheering throb every time he took an intake of breath. Cosmo hovered in the air as he looked down upon him, and took a quick break to catch his breath in return.

"I planned to put you behind bars? Is that what you think?" Cosmo asked with curiosity.

"That's... that's right..." Anti-Cosmo managed to spit out through each of his deep breaths.

"You suspect... that I purposely planned for your inevitable capture, where you'd end up being far away from me, where you'd be far away from my wife... and where you'd be unable to interrupt our lives any further?" For a moment, Cosmo looked to the side of them as he seriously considered this, before he surprised everyone when his eyes darkened as a sinister smile dared to upturn his lips, "Well... I suppose there's some truth to that."

Immediately, the anger within Anti-Cosmo's stomach ripped through his entire being.

"You..." Anti-Cosmo seethed through his gritted teeth, grinding them to the bone as he maliciously leapt towards the sky, "...you _bastard!_"

Anti-Cosmo instantly went to punch the side of Cosmo's face, to which he stepped to the side once again to avoid it entirely. However, when Cosmo went to punch the side of Anti-Cosmo's shoulder, Cosmo was halted immediately as Anti-Cosmo caught his fist in his hand. Without a moment to spare, Cosmo attempted to punch the other side of Anti-Cosmo's shoulder, where he was met yet again with Anti-Cosmo's other hand. Cosmo struggled against him as Anti-Cosmo grappled his fists within his hands, and he pushed back with an equal amount of unrelenting force.

And there they were; hovering in mid-air like two tenacious forces colliding against each other, pushing with all their strength with only their immeasurable hatred to power them. The air around them sizzled with an intense burst of magical tension, as if the harder they struggled to push against each other, the more magic would surface from deep within themselves into a bubble of electrifying current.

Above them, storm clouds circled around them as the sky had disappeared into a grey blanket. With the sun nowhere in sight, and as the winds gradually picked up all around them, the foliage actively rustled against the heavy magical current that shrouded the scene in slight darkness. Wanda and Timmy watched in horror from the platform as their hair flew around their faces, picked up by the harsh winds that forced them to their knees. They were almost afraid to approach Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo, as the overpowering tension in the air seemed to physically repel them.

But Timmy was determined to fight against the tides.

"Guys, stop this!" Timmy shouted from within Wanda's arms, "I don't know what happened while I was gone, but nothing is going to be solved if you two keep fighting like this! This is all meaningless!"

"Meaningless?!" Anti-Cosmo shouted in pure rage.

Suddenly, as a response to this, Anti-Cosmo quickly pulled his hand away and Cosmo was forced to stumble forward. As Cosmo fell head first towards him, Anti-Cosmo heavily kneed him in the stomach, and Cosmo's eyes flew open in insurmountable pain as he doubled over. Then, Anti-Cosmo turned to his side with his elbow raised high, and quickly peered over to Timmy, "What do you know of meaningless, kid?!"

And briskly, Anti-Cosmo elbowed the side of Cosmo's face with unrelenting force, and Cosmo felt his cheekbone crack against it as he was thrown to the side into a stumbling wreck. But Anti-Cosmo hadn't stopped there. He threw himself forward to punch and kick Cosmo in the gut, and Cosmo could barely avoid the onslaught. Whilst he threw an attack Cosmo's way, Anti-Cosmo seethed over to Timmy with utter disdain through his gritted teeth,

"Cosmo passed on to me his title as worthless idiotic trash, ripped my pride apart and shred my identity to pieces, and you find it within your right to tell me that beating him within an inch of his life is _meaningless?" _Anti-Cosmo's hoarse voice sounded as if he spat out the words, "No, Timmy, this is _justice!_"

"Justice?!" Timmy spluttered in total disbelief.

Suddenly, Cosmo managed to capture one of Anti-Cosmo's punches in his fist, and as Anti-Cosmo looked towards him in surprise, Cosmo squeezed it hard in response. Then, as his head turned up to look at Anti-Cosmo through the messy curtain of his green hair, Cosmo growled as if his voice had been ripped to shreds,

"What does an anti-fairy know about justice?" Anti-Cosmo's eyes widened in terrifying shock as Cosmo squeezed his fist harder and harder, "How can someone so hell-bent on his own personal dictatorship have _any_ sense of justice?!"

The instant he finished his sentence, Cosmo swung his free fist to the side, and harshly punched the side of Anti-Cosmo's face. Anti-Cosmo slammed to the ground and lay in a heap, as if he was completely immobilised the moment his head cracked against the ground. Timmy couldn't take this anymore. He struggled all the more from Wanda's grasp, and finally ripped free of her and ran out of her arms to hover on the edge of the fight. But he was halted the moment he saw the amount of scorn emanating from Cosmo's eyes. It was as if he was a completely different person, and Timmy was terrified.

Cosmo hovered ahead of Anti-Cosmo's shattered body, and he lifted his head as if he was intentionally looking down on him.

"You're just a tyrant, Anti-Cosmo. That's all you are." Cosmo stated simply. Anti-Cosmo staggered to his knees and scowled with disdain, both at Cosmo and at his own defeated position, as Cosmo squinted his eyes towards him as if he was disgusted to even acknowledge his presence, "You're obsessed with your own totalitarian beliefs. You, a fascist with his own self-appointed laws, has no authority to judge what is right or wrong here. Yes, so I might have entertained the idea of putting you away for good, so I might have had an underlying intention when I practically handed you over to the authorities, but let's be honest here... am I the _real_ narcissist here?"

Cosmo slowly approached Anti-Cosmo, as he felt Anti-Cosmo was no longer a threat as he bent over his broken body, and inched his face closer to his to glare into Anti-Cosmo's eyes.

"In the long run, I'm doing the world a favour by putting you away." Cosmo told him harshly as he lifted his head, and practically looked down his nose at his counterpart as if he had just wiped him off the sole of his shoes, "You're a menace to society. And it'll be a cold day in Hell before I see this world, my godchildren and my wife at the mercy of your corrupted rule."

"That's it!" Timmy suddenly shouted from afar, "Cosmo, I wish that you'd stop fighting!"

All of a sudden, Cosmo felt as if his entire being had been cemented to the ground. He was stripped of his freedom to move, and his overwhelming scorn that pushed him to strike out against Anti-Cosmo had diminished in a single second. His arms were locked into place, his legs were still, and only his eyes could manage any sort of erratic movement.

Cosmo struggled to turn his staggering gaze over to Timmy as his eyes flew wide open in complete shock. He couldn't let go of his immeasurable surprise as he was forced to back down. His mind whirred, emphasising the indisputable fact that Timmy was sticking up for Anti-Cosmo, the ultimate enemy in his eyes. Frozen on the spot, Cosmo stared incredulously into the frightful eyes of his godson, and he felt his heart sink despairingly for him within his chest.

And suddenly, Anti-Cosmo leapt up from the ground, and tackled Cosmo with an elbow to the groin. Cosmo felt as if his eyes had been thrown out of their sockets as he felt the most excruciating pain take over his entire body, and his legs crippled beneath him as he sunk to the ground in agony.

"Anti-Cosmo, will you stop it!" Timmy yelled at him in fury.

"I didn't hear you wish for it." Anti-Cosmo said plainly as he gave Timmy a quick dismissive glance before turning back to Cosmo's writhing body at his feet, "I've had enough of this cretin lecturing me. Honestly, those tedious speeches about righteousness are just so _boring_. I know where my principals lay, and if they seem immoral to you, Cosmo, then... what can I say? It's simply within my nature."

Cosmo coughed out a reply,

"You're... twisted..."

"Well, I do my best." Anti-Cosmo said with a fanged smirk.

As Anti-Wanda stepped back at the horror that was unfolding before her, she failed to hear a soft noise sounding through the shrouded foliage at the bottom of her heels. It wasn't until it became all the more rapid and prominent when Anti-Wanda finally looked at the overgrown ground beneath her and noticed a metallic-like machine beeping at the soles of her feet. For a few short moments, Anti-Wanda only stared at it in complete confusion, after she concluded that it was nothing that she'd ever seen before in her life. As she took a quick step forward to avoid it, she suddenly tripped over a loose wire that wrapped around her ankle, and she cried out in surprise as she fell head first on to the ground.

Anti-Cosmo instantly turned around on his heel the moment he heard Anti-Wanda's cry.

"Anti-Wanda, are you alright?"

Wanda approached her warily as she was closest to her, and momentarily wondered if it would be alright if she offered her a hand to help, until she noticed exactly what had caught on to Anti-Wanda's ankle.

Wanda wanted to scream. She wanted to cry out in warning to the others, but her voice hitched in her throat as her ankle had been caught in the same way and pulled her off of her feet. Without any sort of warning, Wanda was yanked backwards to the ground, and she shouted out as she hit her head hard against the ground, successfully knocking her out.

A butterfly net sprang from the ground, engulfing the girls entirely in it's giant netting, and the boys could only watch helplessly as they jumped out of their skins in complete shock. And when the reality of the situation fell upon the boys at last, Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo struggled against their own pain to leap into action after them as the net dragged Wanda and Anti-Wanda into the density of the foliage.

"Wanda!" Cosmo yelled desperately after her, and scrambled on the ground in a frantic attempt to grasp the remainder of his strength to launch himself into a daring rescue.

"Cosmo, what did you do this time?!" Anti-Cosmo accused him as he focused his anger on to Cosmo to mask his unyielding dread of losing his wife once again.

"Oh no, I think I know what's going on..." Timmy whispered under his breath, and before Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo could dive into the bushes after their wives, Timmy managed to grab a hold of their ankles to quickly halt them in mid-air.

"Timmy! Let go!" Anti-Cosmo yelled as he desperately attempted to shake him off.

"You can't! Or else you two will get captured too!" Timmy warned them with terror washed over his expression. Cosmo noticed this immediately, and froze in his tracks as he felt his heart in his chest shrink all the more as he turned towards Timmy to face him warily. In the back of his mind, as much as Cosmo wanted to deny the indisputable truth that cruelly dragged his wife away, Cosmo had a faint idea of what might have happened. And when he finally managed the courage to speak up, his voice was barely audible,

"...Timmy, what are you talking about?"

Immediately after Cosmo dared to ask, the phantom sound of Mr. Crocker's laughter echoed from afar, as if his haunting voice was carried along by the violent winds.

The Earth stood still beneath them all. Through the harsh laughter, the sound of Wanda's voice cut through to Cosmo's mind, and echoed a previous conversation he had with her, as if it were mocking him:

_"I checked the train stop earlier but Timmy wasn't there. It was messier than usual, for some reason, but nothing was especially amiss..."_

Cosmo swallowed a hard gulp as he finally concluded the unwanted truth... it was a trap.

"That was a butterfly net." Timmy observed as he looked at the ground beneath them, and wondered how he hadn't noticed the overgrown masses of foliage had been tampered with to hide any thick layers beneath it. With fear in his voice, Timmy turned over to Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo with dismay, "My crazy fairy-obsessed teacher, Mr. Crocker, must've been tailing me and figured out where I hang out. I thought it was a pretty safe place, since it's so far out of the way of the city... but I guess I underestimated him. And now he's got Wanda and Anti-Wanda... if Crocker finds out about you two as well, he'll capture you guys too. Then they'll be no chance of saving them. So... you can't go chasing them right now."

Cosmo simply froze in terror as all traces of colour emptied his face. The tone of his skin fell into a sickly, ghostly paleness as his eyes vacantly stared at Timmy, and he hesitated to acknowledge what had to be done next. Anti-Cosmo, on the other hand, wasted no time in being upfront with Timmy, and grabbed him by the shoulders as he looked to him with desperation emanating from his expression.

"Timmy, you have to wish us back to normal, now!" He begged him as he fell to his knees in a broken mess, and cried with utter despair, "I have to figure out a way to save my wife!"

"No, wait!" Cosmo quickly interrupted them.

Timmy turned to Cosmo in surprise, and saw the sheer terror in Cosmo's eyes at the very prospect of making this wish. Immediately after he recognised the horror-stricken expression that had taken over Cosmo's expression, Timmy knew then... it was much more complicated than he suspected it to be. He took Cosmo's well-being into account first and foremost, as he knew that was something Wanda would want him to do in the event that something might happen to her.

Timmy dismissively shrugged off Anti-Cosmo, much to his dismay, and calmly turned his attention to Cosmo. Timmy carefully approached him, lifting his hands up in surrender as if to tell him that he wouldn't do anything that would startle or harm him.

"What's wrong, Cosmo? You can tell me..." Timmy asked him gently, as he tried not to be too harsh with him.

"I... I don't know if I'm ready to go back to normal yet," Cosmo reluctantly admitted as he ran his hands through his hair and clung on to his head with frustration, "But... I don't know I'm fine with being smart either."

"Cosmo, I'm sorry this is hard on you, but you have to make up your mind, and quickly," Timmy told him firmly as he slowly placed his hand supportively on Cosmo's shoulder, and tried very cautiously to approach him in the most appropriate manner, "We have to save Wanda. You know we have to do this, right?"

All of a sudden, Timmy was sharply knocked to the side as Anti-Cosmo shoved him away, and ripped Cosmo's attention away from him as he grabbed a hold of Cosmo's collar to bring him precariously close to his infuriated glare.

"I don't have time for this indecisiveness!" Anti-Cosmo seethed as Cosmo leant backwards with unease by how dangerously close Anti-Cosmo seemed to be from head-butting him, "You either think of some kind of plan now, or you tell Timmy to change us back to normal so I can take over everything from there. Which is it?" Cosmo gazed to the side as he attempted to avoid Anti-Cosmo's eyes, and Anti-Cosmo gripped him tighter, "You have ten seconds to decide. I have no problem with forcing Timmy to wish for this anyway."

Cosmo remained silent and vigilant, as he was frozen in his internal battle with himself. His breath was uneven, and he vacantly stared away from Anti-Cosmo with watery eyes to fight back the urge to give in to the panic that was overwhelming him. Timmy managed to stumble on his feet when he noticed just how much Cosmo was opposed to returning back to his original self. It was worrying, Timmy thought, that even in the face of danger for his loved ones, even as he had all the intelligence that could ever want, Cosmo was still reduced to a lost child when it came to his own life.

"Cosmo..." Timmy whispered in empathy.

"Pathetic." Anti-Cosmo spat in disgust before he shoved Cosmo away. Then, he immediately turned to Timmy and pointed his wand to glare an intimidating reddish hue towards Timmy's head, and threatened him as the wand began to glow brighter within his tightened grasp, "Alright kid, I'll give you two choices: you can either make this wish with both of your legs completely intact, or you can make the wish with your legs _broken_. I'm more than capable of making the latter a firm possibility, and I promise you, it _won't_ be quick and painless. So, which will it be?"

Timmy squinted his eyes shut as he readied himself for the onslaught, and Anti-Cosmo's eyes lit up with devilish delight at Timmy's resistance. This moment had reminded them all that Anti-Cosmo's pure evil nature hadn't diminished along with his intellect, as Anti-Cosmo couldn't help his uncontrollable malicious grin growing wider at the prospect of torturing him, and his cold heart beat faster in his chest with excitement as he raised his reddened wand into the air, ready to swipe his destructive magic upon him.

Before Anti-Cosmo's wand could descend towards Timmy's cowering figure, Cosmo quickly grabbed a tight hold of Anti-Cosmo's arm and thrust it away with a harsh pull behind his back. Anti-Cosmo winced as he resisted the urge to shout in pain, as Cosmo forcefully bent his arm uncomfortably in an agonising position.

"You'd best leave him alone if you know what's good for you." Cosmo threatened him with disdain. Before Anti-Cosmo was given a chance to give any sort of reply, Cosmo quickly lunged himself forward and head-butted Anti-Cosmo square against his forehead. Anti-Cosmo stumbled backwards, and before he could maintain his balance once again, Cosmo stopped him with a swift punch to the gut, and rendered him to his knees in a broken heap.

"What... the hell is wrong with you?" Anti-Cosmo asked him through his heavy breaths, and rested his throbbing forehead to the ground as he clutched his stomach, "You're more willing... to settle the score with me... than to ensure your wife's safety?! And you call me... twisted..."

All of a sudden, Cosmo's anger completely consumed him as he seethed through his gritted teeth, and thrust his hand forward to take a tight hold of Anti-Cosmo's wrist to force him on to his feet, before throwing him at full force towards the overgrown shelter in the distance.

Anti-Cosmo felt his spine snap in two against the wooden shards of the shelter that cracked upon impact. And when he slumped to the ground and fell to his knees again, Anti-Cosmo's head hung in utter defeat as his shoulders quickly rose and fell with every short and painful breath.

"Why... won't you... help her...?" Anti-Cosmo struggled to ask.

Cosmo's temper consumed him once again as he stepped forward towards him, clenching his fists into balls so tight that his fingernails dug deep into his skin and drawn blood within his grasp. And as he felt completely numbed from the pain, his voice ferociously ripped from his throat as he shouted with unrelenting fury,

"Because being smart _doesn't solve everything!_" Cosmo stumbled forward as he looked helplessly over at his trembling hands and at the small cuts he had unintentionally created, "Isn't that what you told me? Anti-Cosmo, as much as I don't want to admit this... but you were right. How can I help anyone when I know that I'm useless no matter what I do?"

Cosmo tightened his hands back into fists, and vacantly looked on to the distance as the harsh winds brushed his hair over his eyes.

"How can I know that I'll be able to save Wanda... when ultimately... she'd be better off without me..."

"Damn it, Cosmo, will you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about your wife!" Anti-Cosmo yelled impatiently as he staggered back to his feet, "Don't you want to see your Wanda alive again?! You can figure out your pitiful identity crisis once our wives are safe!"

Cosmo remained silent. He didn't feel as if he owed Anti-Cosmo any kind of explanation, or owed him anything for that matter, but at that moment, he felt no other feeling within him than the horrifying dread that came from feeling lost and alone.

"We really don't have time for this, guys!" Timmy yelled at them in an attempt to break them up, "We have to take action now and figure out where Crocker's secret base is. Nothing will come from all this fighting!"

As quickly as Timmy had shouted to them, Anti-Cosmo forcefully jumped forward to swing a punch against the side of Cosmo's head, and as he felt no reason to defend himself or fight back at that point, Cosmo was thrown backwards to the ground, and lay limp on the floor as he finally gave into unconsciousness.

And Timmy looked on, feeling ignored and hopeless.

…

_Act Twelve Preview: "She Remembers..."_

...


	12. Act Twelve

...

_Act Twelve:_ "She Remembers..."

…

There was a faint stench of foul odors that lingered in Wanda's mind before she finally came to.

Her eyes squeezed shut as the smell overwhelmed all of her senses. It was like a mixture of all the worst smells in the world battling for dominance in the air, and the damp stink left a vile taste in her mouth that made her cough hard upon awakening. She shot up and spluttered to life as she pinched her nose, and took a largely deep breath as she slowly came to realise that she wasn't at the train stop anymore.

As her eyes blinked open and as she struggled to see through the dizziness, her double vision eventually cleared up and she found herself looking through a grid. Wanda's mind was still fuzzy as the details slowly pieced together, and she stumbled forward on her knees as her hands lunged towards the steel gridded cage that confided her. It was strangely netted, as if the metallic structure had been manufactured into a specific shape and purpose. Then, when her fingertips stroked over the rope texture, she came to a painful realisation.

"This... this is a butterfly net..." She whispered hoarsely as she attempted to shake off the last remaining dizzy spells, "Where... am I...?"

As Wanda's eyes began to adjust to the darkness, Wanda could just about make out her surroundings. Outside of her cage, Wanda first noticed the dampened walls that arched into an unstable ceiling, almost like the interior of a cave, soaked with an unknown liquid that dripped to the ground. Each droplet that fell repetitively onto the steel platform beneath Wanda created a metallic echo that gave off a repugnant smell, and it took everything within her not to gag. However, the most dominant sound that filled the cave was a mechanical hum that spurred from the strange machinery by the side of her cage.

And there, leant over a control panel of flashing buttons and other bizarre additions, was Mr. Crocker... hunched forward with his arms spread wide across the panel in an eerie, immobilised silence. His bony shoulders rose and fell in slow intervals, as if he was taking incredibly deep breaths, and his face was hidden away as his gaze was cemented to the ground. Wanda could barely make out his lanky figure as the only source of light came from the overbearing computer monitor in front of him, which had flickered with nonsensical blueprints and calculations that could only have been designed by a madman.

Instinctively, Wanda clenched her fist as she expected her fingers to be firmly wrapped around her wand, until she flinched in shock as she realised she was clasping on to thin air. Wanda stared in disbelief at the empty feeling, as if a limb had been ripped away from her. Without her wand, she was powerless. Suddenly she felt stripped of all her strength. It was terrifying, and Wanda clasped her palm over her mouth to withhold herself from shouting in fear.

Then, as soon as Wanda thought the situation couldn't become any more frightening, she immediately spotted movement in the corner of her eye. Without a second thought, she audibly panicked as she turned around and quickly shuffled backwards until she pressed her back sharply against the corners of her cage. Then her eyes widened in sheer terror as she could finally make out another identical butterfly netted cage beside hers, and a darkened shadow moved erratically from within it.

And without her wand, Wanda felt completely helpless.

Suddenly, the unknown creature moved closer towards Wanda from within it's cage and stepped into the light streaming from the computer monitor looming overhead. And as soon as Wanda could recognise the frightened pink gaze of this stranger, Wanda let out a breath of relief.

"Oh Anti-Wanda, it's only you..."

"Shh." Anti-Wanda scolded her as she pressed a finger to her lips, before she brought her hand through the gridded butterfly net and pointed her finger past Wanda's cage, "Our wands are being held over there."

Wanda flickered her eyes and followed Anti-Wanda's gaze, until she found herself peering over to Mr. Crocker for a moment. The creepy atmosphere that he emanated was off-putting, however she finally noticed a clear plastic toolbox sitting precariously on the edge of the control panel with a faint glisten of gold light emanating from within it, and Wanda could feel the magical current pulsating from within her bones.

"That's where the wands are kept." She whispered under her breath to confirm it aloud.

"Who is that man?" Anti-Wanda asked her with an equally low tone as she gripped desperately on to her gridded cage, "Why has he taken us captive?"

"His name is Denzel Crocker." Wanda ran an exhausted hand through her wild pink curls as she sat back with a sigh, "He's a crazy teacher at Timmy's school, and he's completely obsessed with fairies. Usually he's a harmless conspiracy freak that no one really takes seriously, and we overcome his evil schemes as a family... but this time he's caught us at a rather vulnerable time. And without our wands..."

"We're fairy bait." Anti-Wanda gulped as she nervously held on to the base of her throat, and finally recognised how serious this situation had escalated. At least with Jorgen Von Strangle, Anti-Wanda only had to worry about being imprisoned. This time, she nervously realised, her life was dangerously on the line.

The girls looked over to Mr. Crocker once more, and their spines shivered as the disturbing atmosphere surrounding them finally began to settle in. He was so silent and so unmoving, as if he was fixated on the darkened messy depths of his insane mind. And as his shoulders rose one final time, his head sunk lower as his fingers gripped tighter around the edges of the control panel until it squeaked from the pressure. For a weakly built up man, he had a lot of adrenaline-based strength within his grasp.

"I failed..." His voice sounded out and echoed throughout the vast emptiness of his damp cave. Wanda and Anti-Wanda almost jumped out of their skins as he finally showed signs of life, and they simultaneously took hold of the grids of their cages to curiously and nervously watch him from the sidelines.

And suddenly, Mr. Crocker's head snapped up as his voice rose to terrifying heights,

"I've failed! How could I have failed! This plan was genius! It was a break-through in science! I checked it over and over again until the smallest of details were ingrained like buzzing microchips inside my brain! There was no possible way that anything could have gone wrong! It's impossible! It can't have failed! _It can't!"_ Mr. Crocker's screeching voice rattled their cages as his withered hands clenched into rigid claws, and his grey fingers lightly stroked over the blueprints flashing at alarming speeds on his computer screen.

There was no possible way for Wanda or Anti-Wanda to understand anything displayed at the speed of the whirring calculations flashing in Mr. Crocker's eyes. He stared wide-eyed like a hawk at the screen, completely captivated by the letters and the numbers in stacks upon stacks, until a disturbed smile crept upon his lips. The way his crooked smile gradually brightened up his bleak expression and the way his fixated bulging eyes locked solely on to the flashing images almost seemed as if he was entranced by his own mad workings. It was as if he was looking into the eyes of God.

"Of course... of course..." he nodded and whispered to himself, as if he was responding to another voice in his ears, "Of course... I was simply careless. I won't make the same mistake again, oh no. I was too careless when I finally tracked down Timmy and his... _fairy godparents_... at that train stop he's been visiting for weeks. He thought he could escape me. He thought he could outsmart me by going outside the town's perimeter. No, nothing is too smart for me, Timmy Turner. I am _beyond_ science! I can track you down from anywhere on Earth. All I have to do is follow that cluster of magical power that follows you everywhere you go..."

Mr. Crocker's hands skilfully moved over the control panel at an unnatural speed as he worked the dials and buttons that covered it. The screen blinked to life to show a blue faded map of the United States, and the screen zoomed further to show the entirety of Dimmsdale, with small speckles of glowing red spots highlighting the areas that Timmy usually frequented. Wanda was shaken to the bone at the concept. This madman had been stalking them for quite some time.

"You were in the Scottish Alps last night... my computer picked you up the moment you landed there with absolutely _no_ explanation on how you even got there. And then by some _strange phenomenal reason, _you appeared _as if by magic _back in your home town safe and sound." Mr. Crocker approached his computer monitor until the tip of his nose was practically pushing against it, "It's implausible! It's inconceivable! You've fooled the world, Timmy Turner, but you can't fool me. I planted that butterfly net at that train stop... that little safe haven of yours that you deemed to be so secure... and, to be frank, I expected _better _from you... I expected some kind of challenge in finding your whereabouts, but you've ultimately disappointed me. It was almost _too easy_ to track you down."

His trembling fingers, shaking almost from anticipation, traced a collection of intensely burning spots covering one particular area of Dimmsdale. It was the only area that had the most prominent gleams of crimson lights throughout the entire world map. And that area, Wanda almost stopped breathing to realise, was the exact location of the train stop. Mr. Crocker's eyes bulged with interest once again.

"I sensed the largest cluster of magic that I had ever discovered in all my years of hunting. _Four fairies!_ What an exciting life you must lead, Timmy Turner. So you have to understand, I couldn't squander the opportunity that you so graciously laid out before me. I had to act before you could all escape my trap... but somehow I only managed to capture two! _Two fairies!_ The _shame_ of it! It was perfect, everything was going so smoothly, no one expected a thing, and yet I only managed to capture _two!"_

As Mr. Crocker growled and suddenly struck at his machine in a quick burst of fury, the entire cave echoed the sound of his fist crashing against the computer monitor as if it mimicked the sound of a bulldozer crashing against a concrete building. Wanda and Anti-Wanda's cages rattled ferociously again, and they stumbled to their knees as the harsh tremors knocked their balance. And once the echoes had faded into a faint mechanical hum, Mr. Crocker's gaze turned strangely vacant. His sudden bout of anger flickered like a candle flame in the wind, and his immobilised silence returned once again. The quiet intervals in his violent mood swings were like the eerie calmness to an unrelenting storm.

"No matter." He sounded through the grit of his fastened teeth, "Two fairies are better than none. So when it all comes down to it, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter. It _doesn't... matter..._"

The girls weren't convinced that he was taking it so calmly. The short glimmers of anger that slipped through his short and sharp breaths were contradicting his words.

Suddenly, Mr. Crocker's head snapped to the side as he peered to the girls over his shoulder and through his widened eyes. Wanda shuffled backwards in terror at the sight of him, as if his piercing gaze emitted his fiery rage and actively burnt her.

"Two fairies... yes, I have two fairies!" Mr. Crocker's crooked smile returned, and he kept his hawk-like eyes locked on Wanda's as he slowly approached her like a predator, and loomed over her cage as if he was ready to pounce, "Two identical fairies... with identical levels of magical power within them... just enough for me to exploit! This will do. Everything will be fine. My plan will work just as well with this many fairies. It's more than enough! Everything will work out just fine!"

As Wanda stared into the terrifying eyes of Timmy's crazed teacher, she saw a flicker of absolute insanity gleam in his gaze for an elongated moment. She could see his thoughts charged by madness, his cold and lifeless eyes devoid of empathy, and it felt as if she was looking into the depths of a truly disturbed mind. It struck the most unpleasant shiver of her life down her spine.

"However, this must wait!" Suddenly Mr. Crocker finally broke his frightening gaze from Wanda, to which she let out a long sigh of relief, and he turned quickly on his heels, "There is one final piece to this plan that I must retrieve! If I'm not to repeat my previous mistakes, I must go over my workings one final time before proceeding! And after that... mhm, well... the fun will truly begin."

His slow laughter gradually built up into a crazed roar of hysterics as he exited the cave and filled the walls one final time with the echoes of his thunderous cackling. And well after he left the room, his voice was faint and harmonic as it vibrated throughout the cave like a lingering crowd of terrifying ghosts that softly rung through their ears.

But the sinister atmosphere shortly fizzled out soon after Wanda was left in a stone cold silence with her counterpart beside her. The situation felt hopeless as they were stripped of their magic wands, and there were few signs of hope left in their forlorn eyes, but the cages that trapped them seemed far less significant to the fear and misery they felt concerning the events with their husbands on the outside. So much had been said and done since the previous day, and their problems seemed just as loud and amplified as the echoes in the cave.

Wanda clutched lifelessly on to the gridded cage and looked over to Anti-Wanda, who's eyes were cemented to the ground and slightly shaded over by the shadows lurking in. By the way she shuffled to her side, and the way her sad gaze remained fixated to the floor, Wanda felt guilt-ridden stabs jab at her chest as she realised that Anti-Wanda tried to ignore her on purpose.

"Anti-Wanda..." she began, before taking a moment to nervously swallow her hesitation, "I know we haven't really had much of a chance to talk... in fact, I think this is the only time we've actually had the time... but after everything that's happened today, after everything I've put you through, I'm glad I have this chance. I want to take this chance to say I'm really sorry. For all the damage I've caused, for all the hardship I've made you endure... I'm sorry about everything."

Anti-Wanda flickered her dismissive gaze to Wanda for a moment before returning once again to the ground, as if she barely even acknowledged the apology. And Wanda bit her bottom lip as a distraction, so she could attempt to ignore how much Anti-Wanda's indifference hurt her.

"I... I have to admit, this feels a little strange, doesn't it?" Wanda stated as she anxiously rubbed her arm, "I mean, technically we're still rivals, and that's the way it's always been, but even though you're supposed to be the bad guy... I feel like I'm ultimately the evil twin out of the both of us."

"I'm not going to disagree with that." Anti-Wanda replied with a harsh deadpan tone.

"To be honest, I expected that." Wanda almost laughed just as nervously as before, "And I don't really expect forgiveness from you, either. I'm not going to make any excuses for myself. I messed up and made a mistake... so I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for everything that's happened."

As Wanda finally finished, she leant backwards from the gridded cage and rested her lethargic head back against the net. For a short time, they sat in silence as the hum of the machinery overtook the echoes of the cave once again, and Anti-Wanda finally glanced over to her counterpart. Wanda looked completely drained as the colour still hadn't returned to her face, and her heavy eyes closed at last as she gave in to her tiredness. With an elongated sigh, Anti-Wanda traced an idle finger over the netted cage before she finally spoke up,

"You should be more patient with Cosmo." Confusedly, Wanda's eyes fluttered half-open and curiously looked over to Anti-Wanda with furrowed eyebrows. And as she appeared to be more awake as her interest had been caught, Anti-Wanda turned her head as she locked eyes with her and spoke with genuine sincerity in her voice, "Wanda, you're the smart one, you're the more independent one, but you're also the most stubborn one out of the two of us. You're the kind of person that likes to have the final word in everything."

"I'm not quite sure that's entirely true..."

"Stop." Anti-Wanda suddenly interrupted as her soft-spoken tone of voice suddenly sharpened, and Wanda had even backed off a little in surprise, "See? There you go again. You're trying to get your word in without hearing people out first. You need to just stop and listen. And that's what Cosmo needs for you to do right now. You don't need to tell him what to do or how to feel, you need to listen to him. You need to understand him, especially when he's not laughing or smiling all the time. Because no one is like that. Cosmo might seem like he's the kind of guy who is constantly happy, but it's simply not true."

"You think I don't know that?" Wanda replied just as sharply with one eyebrow raised, and she bit her tongue for a second to withhold her growing irritation, "I know what my husband is like, and to be honest, I don't appreciate you telling me I don't know anything about the man I've been married to for thousands of years! Of course I know what kind of guy Cosmo is! He shares everything with me. I know all his thoughts and his passions, his hopes and his dreams, and I certainly know all about his doubts and insecurities. I know how he lacks confidence, and I make sure that I'm always there for him when he needs me. I help him."

"Do you, though?" Anti-Wanda queried her with an unconvinced expression as she tilted her head to the side in wonder, "You're there for him when he needs you... but does that mean you're also there for him when he doesn't need you? Wanda, you have to stop trying to take so much control over his life and trust that he'll make the right decisions for himself for a change. You can't keep believing that you're always in the right and Cosmo is always in the wrong. He's dumb, but he's not hopeless. He needs to know that it's alright to make his own choices, regardless of your doubts in his decisions. He needs you to understand that he can't be the cheerful and upbeat guy that you adore and idolise so much. Don't you see that?"

Wanda flinched in annoyance. Anti-Wanda definitely hit a nerve as Wanda was painfully reminded of the previous argument that revolved around Wanda's hesitance to support Cosmo's new-found intelligence because she found it, in her previous words, _off-putting_. She didn't believe that it was right for him. She wasn't okay with the wish he made from the very start. She didn't deny the fact that she had kissed Anti-Cosmo partly because she adored and idolised the lovable idiot personality that she saw in Cosmo.

And Wanda didn't deny how she didn't understand that Cosmo couldn't be the easy-going and happy-go-lucky guy she was so used to seeing all the time. Again, she felt guilt-ridden stabs in her chest as her heart plummeted to the base of her stomach. And her bitterness rose instead.

"That's rich, Anti-Wanda," she said without an ounce of emotion, before her hostility became more pronounced as her voice grew louder and harsher, "That's real rich. You think you can lecture me on my relationship? I really don't think you have the right to since yours isn't any better..."

Suddenly, Anti-Wanda's eyes flew open as the hurt was incredibly apparent all over her expression, and as Wanda realised the true weight of her words, her eyes widened in horror at herself. The cave crumbled as a large piece of dirt and rubble had fallen from the ceiling and crashed down against the metallic platform beneath their cages, and a frighteningly loud echo rung against the unstable walls. And as the echo shuddered to a slow silence and the gentle hum from the machinery returned once again, Wanda sat back in her cage with a vacant stare and loosely held on to the net as if she couldn't find the will to stand.

"Oh God, you're right. I'm so sorry, Anti-Wanda." She whispered as her fingers brushed over her gawking mouth, and continued to blankly stare in disbelief at her own anger, "I'm so caught up in my own competence... that the moment I'm proven wrong, I lash out in a blind rage. Have I always been so foul-tempered whenever my rationality has been questioned?"

Anti-Wanda remained silent, as she knew that the answer was much louder than words alone.

"I'm such a fool. No wonder Cosmo feels so lost. He relies on me so much, he doesn't believe he's capable of doing anything anymore. And all this time I thought I was supporting his own capabilities... when it turns out I was only encouraging the idea of it. I'm an over-controlling, short-sighted idiot... and I need to force myself to take a step backwards, like you said, and let him make his own decisions... regardless of my feelings. Because, believe or not, I don't always know what's right for him." Wanda shuffled her knees into her hands and tightly hugged herself, then finally whispered in anguish, "And Cosmo's hurting, underneath that cheerful smile I always thought could never be moved, he's suffering. Oh, Cosmo... I thought I knew everything about you... just when I thought there weren't any barriers between us anymore..."

For a brief moment, Wanda felt as if she was close to tears by how low she felt, until a certain treasured memory suddenly sprung up in her mind as if a light had instantly switched on in her mind. As her face quickly brightened up as the memory replayed over and over in her head, she excitedly jumped up to her feet as fast as she could and had briefly startled Anti-Wanda by the sudden change of mood in the air.

Wanda desperately clasped on to the netted cage and peered around the darkened cave for the plastic toolbox that contained her wand. And as her frantic searching stopped the moment her eyes snapped on to the toolbox sitting precariously on the edge of the control panel, Wanda hoped with all her being that her voice was loud enough to travel towards it. She took an impressively long and deep breath, before she bellowed at the top of her voice,

"I'm ready!"

Wanda shouted the phrase over and over until her voice was raw and shaken, as if her throat was struggling to find anymore air in her lungs. Whilst Wanda had preoccupied herself, Anti-Wanda stared towards her counterpart with utter confusion, and wondered if the enclosed space had finally driven her to the brink of madness, until she almost shouted aloud in shock once her attention was caught by the sudden movement of the toolbox.

"Yes! It's working!" Wanda yelled to her as she was charged with utter elation.

To Anti-Wanda's complete surprise, the plastic toolbox had begun to shine as if a bright source of light gradually began to illuminate from within it. And as Wanda continued to erratically shout her phrase like a ritualistic chant, her wand within the box grew brighter and brighter until it was difficult to directly look at. It was as if they had captured a ray of sunlight and encased it in the small plastic toolbox.

Suddenly, a burst of sunlight sprang from the contents, and a beam of light stretched upwards towards the cave ceiling, as if it had pierced through towards its freedom. Wanda smiled as she recognised this as the ray of light that Cosmo had used earlier that day, and leant back with a sigh of relief as the beam of light withdrew back inside the contents of the toolbox. When the light slowly began to fade away into a small distinguishable flame, Anti-Wanda shuffled forward in her cage and curiously peered towards her.

"Wanda, what was that? What did you do?"

Before Wanda could turn to her to explain, the sudden sound of stomping feet gradually perked up their ears, and the girls clamped their mouths shut as their widened eyes shot towards the entrance of the cave. Mr. Crocker's shadow appeared on the curved walls like a looming monster growing in size the further he stepped, until his gangly figure could be seen snaking inside the cave with bulging hawk-like eyes snapping towards Wanda and Anti-Wanda. He held his terrifyingly frozen gaze on the fairies for a few moments before he quickly turned his back to them and approached his computer. His fingers waggled like unfurling claws towards the control panel.

Wanda took a long and silent gulp to swallow her nerves as she hoped that Mr. Crocker hadn't noticed the faint glow lingering on for what seemed like centuries inside the plastic toolbox. But the pressure was too much for her to bare, and so she decided to divert his attention solely to her.

"Mr. Crocker, aren't you tired of fighting for world domination yet?" Wanda shouted to him, and his lanky figure suddenly halted on the spot, "Wouldn't you rather use all of this complex genius towards something worthwhile to the human race? Everything you've created here transcends anything that modern scientists has made. You could really help move your world forward at an exceedingly large pace. You could change the world in new and exciting ways! You'd be praised and celebrated amongst the population! Wouldn't that be more fulfilling than enslaving the Earth and becoming universally hated?"

"World domination." Mr. Crocker spat out the words as he laughed bitterly to her, and turned to face her with his back to the glowing toolbox, just as she had hoped, "You really think I did all this for a chance at world domination? How asinine. I can only imagine how disappointing it would truly be to rule this dried up rock and all it's brain-dead inhabitants. So I must admit, I once had the dream to become the ultimate dictator of the world, until I realised how _boring_ it must be to simply live amongst an entire population worshipping my rule at my feet. The world would become one in mutual devotion to me... free will and independent thought would be eradicated as my glorification will become top priority in every individual's life... unification out of adoration, world peace at the cost of freedom... I wouldn't be a leader of men, I would be the staple in a perfected society of robotic slaves."

"And that would be _boring_ to you?" Wanda asked in total disbelief.

"Within minutes!" Mr. Crocker rolled his eyes, and scoffed once more at how dull the idea sounded to him. Then his face cracked into a crooked grin, and Wanda winced at how awkward he looked, as if smiling was a completely foreign expression on his face, "And that's when I realised the joy of being human is the desire to rebel and the undeniable thirst for chaos!"

"I know that feeling well..." Anti-Wanda concurred dreamily from the sidelines, until Wanda shot her a quick sideways glance of disapproval. Mr. Crocker continued, whilst his twisted smile began to strain upon his lips,

"To be someone, you must have the strength of will, the ambition for independence, and the need for individuality! How can anyone truly prove their worthwhile existence without fighting for what and who they believe in?"

Wanda gave Anti-Wanda an uncomfortable look as Mr. Crocker had inadvertently described Cosmo's current internal struggle at that very moment.

"I'm going to give something worthwhile to the human race, alright." Mr. Crocker quietly said as he lowered his head until his bent stature strained the prominence of his bony spine through his clothes, and his eyes darted towards Wanda as if he was fixated by her, "I'll be the one to change the world in new and exciting ways that this world has never seen in all of its existence! Just you wait, little fairy, I'm going to use the power that you will give me to grant everyone's wishes... I'm going to become the godfather that_ every_ human deserves on this _ungrateful_ tiny planet! This world needs to start anew! This world needs a revolution! This world needs a lesson on the true nature of human beings!"

Wanda jumped to the back of her cage until she pushed her entire figure as far away from Mr. Crocker as she could make it, as he suddenly grabbed a hold of the netted cage with his claw-like hands. The strength in his hands was unpredictable, as the cage squealed from the pressure underneath his iron grip. And the most terrifying detail was the prominent redness in Mr. Crocker's eyes as they bulged out of the sockets towards her whilst his voice rose to chilling heights,

"Humans are _scum!_ They are deceitful and naïve! No more will we rely on these lying governments, no more will we clutter into the favoured capitals of our countries... I will topple _every_ government and tear down _every_ capital, and I will terrorise the human population into submission until every single puny individual only knows the hardened truth! _No one_ can be trusted, _no one_ can be loved, and no one can be _happy... humans can be as unhappy as they made me!"_

The rattling cages shuddered to a halt as soon as the echoes of his voice begun to fade into the distance. Mr. Crocker's head hung low as his eyes were hidden under the shadows of his thin and wispy hair hanging over his face, and he remained in complete immobilised silence as Wanda clutched on to her chest to feel the quickening pace of her heartbeat. Frozen in fear, she managed to whisper on impulse,

"You're insane..."

"No. No, you're wrong." He replied monotonously as his hands dropped to his sides. Then his sharpened frightening eyes rose back up to hers, "You know what the truly insane part of all this is? It's the ignorance that plagues this world. It's the stubbornness to accept the existence of beings like _you,_ little fairy. It's the fact that magical creatures like you have played such vital roles in our history and our lives, and yet the _entire world_ turns a blind eye to _all of it_ despite my best efforts to prove myself! And I have... countless times... but does anyone believe me? I'm _insane_ to have thought that anyone would. Humans are self-destructive, selfish and chaotic. So... I'm simply speeding up the process."

As he turned his back to Wanda, Mr. Crocker lingered before her in a short sad silence for a moment. Wanda picked this up as she shuffled forward in her cage, and hung on to the net as she peered curiously towards him. Mr. Crocker's head was lowered once again, and he held on to his arms as he hugged himself away from her, as if he was hesitating on what he was about to do. And Wanda swallowed her fear as her sympathy began to overwhelm her.

"I feel so sorry for you, Mr. Crocker." She told him honestly with her soft-spoken tone of voice, "You've been ridiculed for so long because of us. I'm... really not surprised that you've lost faith in the human race. And your faith in us fairies."

"I don't need your pity." Mr. Crocker said bitterly as he turned over his shoulder to glare at her, "I'll prove your existence and the extent of your power soon enough. All those days under the guise of an eccentric school teacher will be worth it. And this admittedly crushing loneliness and unspeakable void left behind from childhood will promptly slip away once my anger is shared across the entire world. They will know what Hell feels like once I crush the fabric of society beneath the heavy weight of my power. And it's all thanks to you... little fairy."

Wanda loosely held on to the netted cage as her face fell in defeat, and her heart sank to the very depths of her stomach as she realised the true extent of her part in all this. She vacantly stared ahead in horror as Anti-Wanda worriedly gazed over to her, and felt nothing less than hopeless.

"Anti-Cosmo was right. The world is already chaotic, and all it really needs is one push." Wanda spoke aloud as her mind wandered to the early memory of gazing upon the stars from the train tracks, and she wondered how significant her powerful existence truly was on the human race. She felt nauseous as the reality slowly began to dawn on her, "So if Mr. Crocker manages to harness the infinite power that we wield, he'll damage the world in a way that can't simply be undone... the Earth will be plunged into a never ending nightmare..."

"When you put it like that, it does sound like a lot of fun." Mr. Crocker's sinister smile returned as he dreamily rubbed his chin in contemplation. Then as his excitement grew all the more as he thought about it, his sudden burst of energy prompted him to pounce towards the control panel with his claw-like fingers tightly gripped around a large lever situated in the centre. And as his frightening eyes widened with anticipation, his voice grew loud with frenzied elation, "So why should we have to wait any longer? Let's start the fun _right now!"_

"What?" Wanda yelled in horrified surprise, and desperately screamed in terror, "No, you can't-"

Suddenly, Mr. Crocker's impossible strength yanked the lever down until the entire panel of machinery lit up like fireworks, and the netted cages surrounding Wanda and Anti-Wanda buzzed to life until it erratically charged with electricity that quickly shaped a bubble of energy around them, and rendered the girls helpless to their knees.

They screamed as electric shocks rang through their bodies as if sharp needles had pierced through every pore in their skins. They could feel themselves growing weaker as the magical power they withheld had begun to drain out of them, as it felt like a powerful weight deep within the core of their souls was forcedly and painfully pulled down towards the soles of their feet. The seething pain travelled from their chests and shot down their legs, until their magical power had been seized across the metallic steel platform towards exactly where Mr. Crocker stood.

And as that magical power finally reached him, he screamed in agony as the overwhelming electric burst of energy suddenly entered his body and surged like excited lightening bolts around his figure. He crouched forward and stumbled across the platform as he grabbed a hold of his head, as if to stabilize the over-bearing weight pushing down on his body. Slowly and gradually, he could feel the immense power pulsating within every inch of him. The blood shooting through his veins raced to his powerful growing heart as the bones and the muscles underneath his stretching skin begun to erratically bulge into exaggerated forms, until he could no longer recognise the bony figure of his former self in his shadow.

Wanda and Anti-Wanda fell almost lifelessly on their hands, and they continued to scream and fight against the overwhelming need to fall unconscious, all whilst Mr. Crocker's maniacal laughter grew as large as his newly monstrous and over-powered form looming over them like a mountain. And the last thing Wanda could remember before succumbing to unconsciousness was the sight of Mr. Crocker's gigantic blank eyes, coated over with a glowing blood-red hue that emanated his crazed thirst for chaos.

Then, silence.

…

...

...

Cosmo was thrown once more to the ground by Anti-Cosmo, with blood spilling over his face from his hairline and dirt that had bruised over his ragged torn-up clothes. He looked limp and lifeless as he lay in a broken heap across the train stop platform, with his head on the verge of dangling over the edge and his eyes struggling to remain open. And as Anti-Cosmo was positive that Cosmo could not find the strength to pull himself back up to fight back, he turned on his feet towards Timmy, and grabbed him by the hem of his collar to lift him dangerously high into the air.

"Have you had enough of seeing your godfather suffer?" He asked through heavily deep breaths as Timmy struggled within him grasp, and desperately glanced over to Cosmo's immobilised figure lying on the edge of the platform. The sight of Cosmo's shattered body broke his heart in two, and Timmy winced with hesitation as he couldn't bare to witness any more of this. And he hated the fact that he couldn't see any other way around this.

"If I do this... will you promise to stop hurting Cosmo? And then will you go save Wanda and your wife if I wish for your intelligence back?" Timmy managed to ask through his trembling hesitation. As Anti-Cosmo could see that Timmy was genuinely serious about this decision, he gently lowered him to the ground and loosened his grip from Timmy's collar.

"You have my word." Anti-Cosmo replied with determination to sound convincing, and had even attempted to slowly nod his head as if to bait him further. Although Timmy wasn't entirely reassured on Cosmo's safety, he knew he could count on him to rescue the girls, and that was something that neither of them had time to debate on. And so, with no time to spare, Timmy glanced towards Anti-Cosmo's twitching fingers over his wand, and took a deep breath before making his wish,

"I-"

"No..." Cosmo weakly called from beside them as he forced all of his strength into his arms to prop himself up on one elbow, and called out once again as he struggled to lift his eyes to gaze intensely towards Timmy in one final attempt to persuade him, "No, Timmy... please, don't do it..."

"Shut up!" Anti-Cosmo yelled in a sudden burst of anger as he shoved Timmy aside to break his eye contact, "You don't get a say in this if you're not willing to do anything about the situation! So what use are you if you're not going to help us? Just shut up and lie down if you value your life! You're going to return to normal, whether you want us to or not!"

As Cosmo looked over to Timmy one last time, he felt his heart had been shot as he found Timmy looking hopelessly to the ground and purposely avoiding his desperate gaze. Timmy had silently agreed with Anti-Cosmo, and there was nothing he could do. Cosmo swallowed hard as if he felt his broken heart helplessly plummet from his throat to the base of his stomach. And Anti-Cosmo smirked, as he finally felt there was an understanding between them. Cosmo had lost. There was no other way out of this. And as Cosmo fell to the ground with his eyes staring up towards the bleakly cloudy skies, his watery gaze blurred his vision as his mind wandered to the memories of his wife. _Wanda._

He only wanted the best for her. He wanted her to have the life she deserved. He just wanted her to be happy.

_But... I'm useless no matter what I do. I can't make her happy, I can't be what she needs or what she deserves... I can't be anything. Wanda, you'd be better off without me..._

Cosmo closed his eyes and awaited his fate. And when Timmy noticed this cue, he reluctantly turned towards Anti-Cosmo who surprisingly didn't seem like he took any pleasure from this. Without any time to contemplate, Timmy finally sighed.

"Okay, let's do this." Timmy began as he took a deep breath. Anti-Cosmo rose his wand in careful anticipation. And as Timmy took one final glance over to Cosmo, who waited in a sorrowful silence from the sidelines, Timmy wished in his heart that Cosmo would find happiness in the final outcome... before turning back to Anti-Cosmo was glassy eyes and shouting loudly, "I wish Cosmo had-"

_"I'm ready!"_

All of a sudden, Timmy was interrupted by a strong tremor beneath his feet, and he was instantly knocked off his balance. Anti-Cosmo followed suit as he fell to the ground in a heap as the earthquake below them shook more rapidly. And as they both shouted out in surprise, Cosmo yelled out in pain as he grabbed a hold of the ground for support as they were all shook to their knees in total confusion.

Then, before anyone could get a word in edgewise, a sudden burst of light erupted from Cosmo's wand and lit up the entire train stop, until all three of them were quickly blinded in the process. It took a few confusing seconds for their eyes to fully adjust to the ray of light, and a few more seconds to fully understand that Cosmo's wand had suddenly began to emit the brightest sun beam they had ever witnessed. It was a struggle to comprehend what was suddenly happening against the thunderous earthquakes beneath their feet that threatened to knock them to the ground once again.

However, Timmy and Anti-Cosmo stared in shock as Cosmo sat beneath the beam of light erupting from his wand and stretched into an elongated arch towards the sky. Cosmo stared in total disbelief as his hair was thrown around his face, as if the world that moved beneath him hadn't bothered him as much as this ray of light had done. And whilst Timmy and Anti-Cosmo passed each other bewildered looks, Cosmo slowly lifted his wand to the air and his eyes curiously followed the direction to where the beam of light was headed. It stretched to the Heavens, as if it had promised him the answer to all of his problems.

At first, he didn't believe it. Until he finally figured it out.

Time became an indistinguishable factor. Seconds, minutes and hours had no meaning to him the moment he discovered and realised what this truly was. At that moment, the world around him was less than significant. And a wave of overwhelming euphoria lit up his entire being.

Suddenly, Cosmo's widened eyes glistened with happy tears and his bloodied face cracked into an uncontrollable smile that broke into loud and messy laughter. Cosmo laughed so loud and so maniacally that the sound of his voice seemed to pierce and cut through the thunderous rumbling ringing through Timmy and Anti-Cosmo's ears.

Then, when Anti-Cosmo took a slow and curious step forward to get closer to Cosmo, he struggled to keep his balance as he shouted impatiently,

"Cosmo, what is all this?" He winced at the glowing beam ahead as his slow mind began to turn with activity, "That ray of light... it's similar... has your wand malfunctioned too?"

And then Timmy nervously approached Cosmo with worry stained in his voice,

"Why... are you laughing?"

The erratic tremors of the Earth began to slow down to low rumbles, and the sound of Cosmo's laughter died along with it as his tears ran like streams down his bloodied skin. And as he turned over his shoulder to face his godson, Timmy was instantly frozen in immeasurable shock.

He couldn't recall a time in his life where he had seen Cosmo as happy as he had been at that moment.

Then the blood and the tears seemed non-existent as his face cracked into a light-hearted grin, as he cheerfully sang,

"She remembers..."

…

_Act Thirteen: The Promise We Made_

...


	13. Act Thirteen

…

Act Thirteen: The Promise We Made

…

...

_Over ten thousand years ago..._

…

The moment Binky had collapsed on to his unkempt bed, his intoxicated dizzy spells instantly faded into unconsciousness as Cosmo was left confused and flustered, and hopelessly lingering behind in Binky's dormitory on Fairy Academy campus. Cosmo resisted the urge to laugh while his lips uncontrollably turned up into a wide smile, as he didn't expect Binky to have fallen asleep that fast. Then Cosmo sighed and shook his head when he realised that he simply underestimated the impressively sheer amount of beer and cider that Binky had consumed that evening.

It was the same repetitive routine at every one of Cupid's parties; Binky would refrain from drinking heavily at first, knowing full well how messy he would get under the influence, until he would be beckoned to all the drinking games where he would consistently lose at every single one. And eventually his nights would usually end up with his head in the gutter, face down in a pool of his own vomit. One thing was for certain - Binky really knew how to party.

After checking for the final time if Binky was alright to be left on his own, Cosmo exited Binky's room and closed the door behind him. He heavily sighed with exhaustion and peered down the foggy pathway of the dormitory to look over at his car parked nearby. Once he squinted his eyes through the darkness of the misty evening, he could finally recognise his run-down vehicle, dripping with the remnants of Binky's puke over his bumper. However, Cosmo wasn't concerned with this grotesque detail in the slightest. His full attention turned to the familiar head of pink hair resting in the passenger seat, and a set of rose-tinted eyes gazing absent-mindedly into space. A large part of Cosmo had breathed in relief the instant he saw Wanda still waiting for him in his car, and his heart lifted into his throat at the sight of her.

She had just started to wear her hair down. Until now, Cosmo had mostly known Wanda to tie her hair up into a tight ponytail, and it wasn't until recently that she began wearing it in a wild array of curls down her back and over her shoulders. Cosmo had to pause every time he saw her, as if he had to stop and restart his heart, when he noticed how comfortable she was getting around him.

But Cosmo's stomach remained in tight knots as he remembered the disastrous evening he had spent with her. Because although Cosmo wanted to make sure that Binky had safely returned to his home, since he couldn't just leave Binky stumbling around drunkenly in search for it from the gutter, this meant that Cosmo inevitably had to delay his date with Wanda. And as soon as Cosmo had gathered Binky together in the back seat of his car, with a plastic bag in his hands just in case he felt like spilling more of the contents of his stomach, the couple spent the rest of the night driving Binky home in a somewhat strained silence while Binky moaned and wretched behind them. The atmosphere was far from what would be described as romantic.

So, Cosmo swallowed a hard gulp when he approached his car with the keen optimistic belief that their evening was still salvageable. But he shook his head as he tried not to keep his hopes up too much.

"Is Binky okay?" Wanda asked him worriedly the second Cosmo sat down in his driver's seat. He attempted to keep his eye contact away from her as he nervously drummed his fingers over the steering wheel.

"He's fine. He'll feel worse in the morning, but he'll be alright."

Wanda's light-hearted laughter rang through the air as she leant back against her seat, and had almost caught Cosmo off guard by how happy she seemed. A moment ago, he was so sure that he had blown the entire evening with her.

"I wouldn't want to be him in the morning, for sure." Wanda grinned widely as she leant her elbow on the window pane and placed her cheek against her palm, and gazed softly at Cosmo as her voice quietened down to a gentle murmur, "But I'm glad he's back home safe, thanks to you. You're an amazingly good person, Cosmo."

Suddenly, Cosmo's eyes quickly captured her gentle gaze as his entire being heated up from her kind words. Then, the moment Wanda was in full view of him, he felt the remainder of his breath being drawn out of him.

The Earth's moon was high above them alongside the glistening array of sparkling colours raining down upon her, as if her entire figure emanated with the same glow that lit up the evening sky. And as she crossed her bare leg over the other, her golden dress fell over her thighs and pulled down her pink curls resting over her shoulders. Her most prominent curl that propped up on her hairline had messy strands of rose-coloured hair descending over the side of her blushing heart-shaped face. Cosmo could barely manage to swallow. Wanda looked at total ease, and to Cosmo, she looked like the most beautiful person in existence. His love for her felt as if it was spilling over the edge of his heart.

Unable to contain it, Cosmo leant towards her and slowly placed an arm around her shoulders. With a content sigh, Wanda welcomed it completely as she moved up towards him, and quietly nestled her head underneath his chin with her ear resting against his chest. Her breath hitched in surprise as she heard Cosmo's fast-paced heartbeat. It was thumping at a tremendous speed. Wanda couldn't contain her happiness as her face lit up into a bright shade of red and a larger than life smile.

For a few moments, they remained like that in a comfortable and loving silence. There was nothing to say, there wasn't anything they could say. Words couldn't give their feelings justice, as the happiness they shared couldn't simply be described. Wanda felt like she was returning home in Cosmo's arms, as if she fit perfectly under his embrace because she belonged there and nowhere else. And Cosmo didn't want to waste his time wondering how he got so lucky to have her there next to him. Then, as he brushed away his creeping doubts that made him believe this had to be a dream, his heart spiked as Wanda breathed out peacefully and lightly rested her hand over his jawline.

"Hey," she whispered as she gently pushed Cosmo's head towards her with her fingertips, and he gazed down on her with widened eyes, "Can we drive to our special place? I don't want the night to be over just yet."

Cosmo rested into a relieved smile, and replied with genuine happiness,

"Yeah, okay... I really don't want to leave you, either."

Wanda had to bite down on her bottom lip to restrain her smile from growing even wider, and attempted to distract her heart from leaping out of her throat with a quick flick of her wrist as she flipped the switch of Cosmo's worn-down car radio until the warm air was filled with slow tunes from the 1980's. Happy beyond words and contented by Cosmo's side, she slipped into paradise as Cosmo's car shuddered to life and drifted them towards their destination.

All the way there, Cosmo's mind was determined to concentrate on the road despite having Wanda laying peacefully on his side with her head remaining nestled underneath his chin. But each time he caught himself glancing over to her with his heart steadily pounding in his chest, Cosmo had to force himself to slow down every time his one-track mind wandered to thoughts of her. He would never forgive himself if anything bad had happened to her due to his lack of concentration on the road.

But he couldn't help it. He wanted to keep Wanda by his side as long as possible. As his nostrils flared with sheer tenacity, he was determined to keep his mind steadily on the long drive ahead whilst enjoying every single moment of having Wanda close to him. With the warm wind blowing through the cracked windows, and with the heartfelt ballads quietly playing in the background, Cosmo was convinced this was as close to Heaven as he could possibly get.

However, the drive finally came to an end as he slowly pulled up near the edge of a cliff that overlooked the entirety of Fairy World. It was a place that Cosmo and Wanda had claimed for themselves as no one else seemed to know about its location. So, as they climbed out of the car and into the humid night air, Cosmo sat on the bonnet of his car with his eyes towards the starry sky. Wanda joined him as she carefully slid across the bonnet and cautiously lay on the windscreen beside her. Wanda's eyes followed Cosmo's curious gaze to the sky, and smirked when she found him looking up in wonder at the planet hovering overhead.

"The Earth looks so small from here." Wanda commented as she shuffled on her side and turned to face Cosmo, "It's so strange to think we'll be spending most of our lives down there with the humans."

"It does seem strange," he replied with an eyebrow raised, "I've been wondering, how do so many people and fairies fit on such a tiny planet? Do we all just... cram together in a tight space? Wouldn't it get too cramped?"

Wanda covered her shaky grin as she resisted the urge to laugh out loud, but her laughter finally slipped out as she desperately grabbed a hold of Cosmo's arm into a loose embrace for support. For a moment, Cosmo was taken aback by Wanda's laughter as he didn't think he had said anything funny, until the heat filled up his face when he felt Wanda's gentle hands wrap around him unexpectedly. A small smile lit up his reddened face, and he glanced up at the curiously small planet above their heads. He felt light, as if he could float up into the evening sky with nothing weighing him down. Wanda made him feel like that every day. It was a surreal, and beautiful feeling.

"It'll be a much bigger place once we get there, you'll see. Although we'll have to graduate Fairy Academy first." Wanda's voice began to trail away as her gaze became vacant and absent-minded, and as Cosmo turned over to her, his interest peaked as Wanda seemed to hide her expression against his shoulder.

There were rare moments when Wanda would be reduced to silence as she tried to put her thoughts into words. Cosmo would recognise those moments very well. They were the only times where Wanda put aside her assertive personality, and quietly gave in to the hidden passive side of her. Cosmo smirked at how she held him close as she hid her eyes away from him, and smiled wider as he watched Wanda's ears flush with colour. When her embarrassment became all the more apparent, Cosmo waited whole-heartedly with a goofy grin as he savoured Wanda's rarely adorable moments.

"Do you... do you think we'll still be together after graduation?" Wanda finally managed to speak out as she continued to avoid Cosmo's entertained gaze.

"I do." Cosmo replied honestly as she eventually peaked over his shoulder with a beetroot colour washed over her face, "Wherever you go from here, I'll follow you anywhere. After graduation, after the universe has ended, towards the edge of time... I'll still be with you wherever you go. You won't be able to get rid of me easily."

Suddenly, she gripped tightly on to Cosmo's arm, grateful for his comforting words. Wanda was captivated by his heartfelt declaration, and entranced by his kind eyes as they traced the shape of her parted lips, until she felt pleasant shivers running down her skin as Cosmo's voice trailed away and his wandering fingers brushed over her rose-coloured curls. Wanda felt she couldn't find the ability to breathe as her messy hair was gently moved out of her eyes, and she had to capture her bottom lip between her teeth as she felt his fingertips linger behind her ears. And he gently held her face in his hand and felt the heat from her burning cheeks scorch his palm.

Wanda believed in his words, she believed in him, and she wanted to believe that this lingering feeling of overwhelming love for him will remain the same throughout their future together. Wanda wanted to hang on to this feeling with all of her strength, and the thought of their future with each other had suddenly swept her thoughts away.

"Aren't you nervous?" She asked him with a contented sigh.

"About what?"

"Well, aren't you nervous about graduating Fairy Academy?" Wanda's grip on his arm tightened after she asked.

"Hm, I guess... I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about it." Cosmo said thoughtfully as his hand slipped away from her and his gaze wandered back up to the stars. Then he pursed his lips in contemplation.

"Oh c'mon, what do you have to be nervous about, Cosmo?" Wanda asked with a light-hearted smile as she propped herself up on her elbow, yet she was relieved at the fact that she wasn't the only one who felt like this, "You know after graduation day, you won't have to deal with all those difficult classes and exams anymore. Won't that be great? You can finally say goodbye to long nights of studying, and you will never have to spend all that time worrying about surprise quizzes and the pressures of bad grades ever again. Doesn't that sound like something to be excited for?"

"Yeah... yeah, it actually does." Cosmo replied with a wide grin, and his heart skipped when he suddenly felt himself fall for her all over again. He admired her so much by the way she puts everything in a positive perspective for him. "You're right, y'know? It'll be such a huge relief when we can finally put all those things behind us. Man, I get such a raw headache from those surprise quizzes. You never know when they're going to sneak up on us! It was always a bad time. I can't wait until we never have to deal with them again..."

"There, see? Aren't I always right?" Wanda giggled softly as she gently nudged him with a bright smile.

As she laughed as if there wasn't a care in the world weighing her down at that moment, Cosmo turned to face her and carefully watched her in silence. Thoughts of her came in large waves in his mind, as if she consumed every inch of him. Then he slowly breathed out as he began to get caught up in his own simple thoughts, and he gradually pulled himself up to lean on his hands behind his back as his eyes wandered once again to the Earth floating above their heads. It looked like a shining orb stuck at the other end of the sky. It was small, but it was intimidating. And Cosmo winced as an unpleasant thought crossed his mind,

"Do you know what scares me most about graduating?" Wanda peered over to him curiously with worry painted all over her expression. Without ripping his gaze away from the Earth glaring back down on him, Cosmo spoke up in a deadpan tone, "I'm mostly afraid of the future. It's all so... _unknown_. It's like time is moving too fast, forcing us to face the harsh reality that hangs to our lives, and all the imminent baggage that comes along the ride feels like it's just waiting to pull us apart."

Wanda lifted an eyebrow in surprise and wonder as she pulled herself up beside him, and hugged her bent legs as she rested her head on her knees.

"I never thought you'd have thought out your fears so... eloquently." She passed him a quick heartfelt half-smile in support as she sighed to herself, "No one knows what's going to happen in the future, sweetie, but we'll face all this _imminent baggage_ together as a team when it comes down to it. We'll get through it, I'm sure..."

"But what if we become the problem, Wanda?" Cosmo pleaded to her as he quickly turned to face her. Suddenly, Wanda's eyes widened in complete shock the moment she saw how shaken Cosmo truly was by this. His bottom lip began to tremble as the worry lines on his forehead deepened, and his eyes became glassy with freshly drawn tears threatening to blur his vision.

"We'll become the problem? What... what do you mean by that?" Wanda dared to ask.

"I mean, what if we both grow apart in the future? What will happen to us? Things will be so much different after we leave the academy, and graduation day is coming so soon... will everything change between us after we graduate?"

Wanda was almost hesitant to reply, as she had also thought about this while they had been dating, but she always figured Cosmo was too cheerful and carefree to ever give this a second thought. Then, as she nervously tucked strands of messy pink hair behind her ear, she glanced nervously at the ground before knowing exactly what to say,

"Well, Cosmo, I'm afraid that the future will always welcome opportunities for us to change. It's something we've had to come to terms with and accept as immortal beings. We can't avoid it, but at least we can learn from it."

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to accept it," Cosmo replied quietly as his head hung in grief. Then, as if his painful heartache had a firm grip on his throat, his voice strained with emotion, "If there's a chance that we'll change completely in our future, I wish I could stop time and stay here with you for the rest of our lives... if there's an inevitable chance in our long future that we'll decide to leave each other... I don't _ever_ want to face it... not ever..."

Wanda couldn't bare it. It seemed as though Cosmo had voiced the exact same fears that Wanda had secretly shared. It was a thought that she buried deep in the back of her mind. It was the thought that she may have to face a time in her future where she wouldn't be by Cosmo's side any longer. And as she looked into Cosmo's desperate eyes, as if he looked to her for all the right answers, and as if he had firm hope that she would once again comfort him with her compassionate and optimistic perspective on life, she choked on her tears building behind her eyes and whimpered in painful anguish,

"I... I don't... I don't have an answer to that..."

Cosmo pressed his lips together as he regretfully wished he hadn't brought up this conversation at all. He didn't expect Wanda to feel the exact same way, but as they had come to love each other more as days passed by, the fear of leaving each other had become all the more intense and inevitable. They were each other's strengths, but also each other's greatest weaknesses.

Cosmo realised this the moment Wanda had fallen back against the windscreen with her frustrated hand running through her wild curls, creating a pink pool of hair that framed her heart-shaped flushed face. She bit down on her bottom lip and swallowed her tears, as she refused to appear upset in front of Cosmo. She prided herself on her headstrong personality, but her stone-faced demeanour began to fall through the cracks.

Quietly, Cosmo lay back against the windscreen beside her and boldly reached for her hand. Without a moment to spare, Wanda laced her fingers through his and held on tight. As their hands locked in a tight embrace, they knew that they truly needed each other. And with a quick sniff, Wanda turned to face Cosmo with a grateful smile lighting up her expression. In moments like these, she was happy that Cosmo knew just what to do to bring a smile to her face. She loved his instinctive qualities. She loved _him_.

"So... have you ever been curious to look into the future?" Wanda bravely asked him as her head burnt into an impressive shade of red, "Have you ever been tempted to use your magic to go into our future and see if we make it?"

"Yeah, I have." Cosmo replied simply in a neutral tone that caught Wanda completely off guard.

"Really? So you have thought about this?"

"Well, I'd never go through with it." Cosmo told her with a light-hearted shrug.

"Why not?" Wanda shouted exasperatedly as she carefully moved closer to Cosmo to look him squarely in the eyes, "All the answers to our worries would be there, wouldn't you want to know the truth about us and our future..."

"I wouldn't do it because... although I'm _really_ afraid of what might happen to us... when it all comes down to it, I just believe that we will change together for the better. No matter what happens to us. We'll be okay. I believe in us."

Wanda felt as if her breath had completely left her. She couldn't overlook Cosmo's genuine honesty and belief in the two of them. She couldn't dismiss the fact that her face had completely flushed over into a deep burning red as her entire being heated up in response. And as she felt the extreme comfort in his words settle in, she softly smiled back with the same determined belief that Cosmo carried,

"I believe in us, too." She gently said as she brought Cosmo's hand up to her chest and clasped his fingers between her palms, and squeezed him in consolation before she closed her eyes and declared with confidence, "That's if you promise me one thing, and one thing only!"

"Wh-what is it?" He asked unsteadily as he tried to concentrate his thoughts on her whilst his face burnt up from the comforting feeling of Wanda's warm hands tightly wrapped around his.

"We have to promise that we'll always be honest with each other."

Suddenly, Cosmo's eyes widened as he realised the true extent of Wanda's proposal. He could sense it in the way she softly spoke, and the way she held on to him as if she truly didn't want to let go until he promised her just that. He saw the hurt evident in Wanda's gaze as the tears she attempted to hide squeezed through the corners of her eyes.

Cosmo knew that she was still hurt.

All Wanda had asked for in a meaningful relationship was truth and honesty. And she had none of that while she was brought up in a criminal background with her gangster father, she had no one to trust as her twin sister grew up with the confidence and ego that overshadowed her, and she had experienced first-hand the unfaithfulness and infidelity of her boyfriend, Juandissimo. Deception was everywhere she turned. It was everything she knew throughout her life. There was no silver lining, there was no one to believe or confide in. There was only falsehood and hypocrisy.

That was until she met Cosmo.

Silently, Cosmo took hold of Wanda's hands as he gently pulled her up from the windscreen and sat facing towards her with the determination to be as stern and as genuine as possible in his heartfelt declaration,

"Wanda, believe me... I will never be dishonest with you. Ever." He told her with sincerity apparent in his loud voice as Wanda's sad eyes glistened with the threat of fresh hot tears, "I won't keep a single secret from you, okay? I'll be an open book to you. And I'll prove it to you right now!"

"Cosmo... you don't have to..." Wanda insisted as her voice shook for the overwhelming emotion building within her chest.

"I do, I want to! I want to show you that I will tell you absolutely everything about me! Now let me think... um, okay, here's a secret I've never told anyone: I've wet myself in class on more than one occasion! And sometimes I don't trust my self-control, so I'll wear diapers after drinking more than one bottle of water!" Wanda tried her hardest not to laugh, but the way Cosmo had enthusiastically revealed this embarrassing moment in his life had tempted her to giggle under her breath, and Cosmo grinned simply because he was able to make her smile, "You see? What kind of guy admits that to a girl without truly being honest with her? And... and I also pick my nose when I'm bored, and I draw random pictures on the bathroom stalls, and when I'm alone in my room I..."

"Alright, Cosmo, alright. I get it. You don't need to tell me every detail, I get it." Wanda laughed whole-heartedly as she wiped away a small singular tear that escaped the corner of her eye with her forearm, "Thank you, sweetie. I'm... almost at a loss for words. You're just the kindest soul I've ever known."

"Oh, Wanda..." Cosmo held on to her hands with all of his strength and leant towards her as if he couldn't bare the thought of being far apart from her. He pressed his lips together as he struggled to think clearly for her, and he tried his best to put all of his feelings into words, "You know me, I've never been good at saying exactly how I feel about you. But I know you deserve to be treated with the highest respect, absolutely. I promise to treat you right with all of my heart and soul. Believe me. I will make it my life's mission to give you everything. So I promise to be honest with you. I'll give you nothing less than the truth. From now and beyond, into the inevitable winding road of our future. As long as we're together. I'm yours, completely. I belong to you."

Wanda gently placed her fingertips over his lips, and he suddenly stopped his long winded declaration to her the moment he caught a glimpse of her smile. He could see the hurt had faded away in her watery eyes, and there was unending love in place of that. Then, her fingertips traced a line over his cheekbones until she caught his unkempt hair between her fingers, and she held his heated head in her palm as her lids grew heavy and her lips parted a few inches away from his.

"Honestly, Cosmo, you will never know how much what you just said means to me. It means so much. You are the most important person in the entire universe to me, you make me so happy... and I promise I'll never let you go." Her warm breath brushed over Cosmo's skin, and his mind clouded into a steam of muddled thoughts as she drew closer until she was practically on the edge of his lips, "I won't ever want to leave you, Cosmo. We'll never have to face that future. Because I'll tell you everything. All the good things, even all the horribly bad things, I'll never keep anything from you. It'll make us even stronger. We'll grow stronger together. And I'll make sure there will never be any barriers between us."

Cosmo's arms slowly wrapped around her waist as Wanda's arms slid over his shoulders until her fingers were buried in the shaggy mess of his mossy hair. They grinned like idiots as the tips of their noses leant against each other all the while Wanda had been lifted into the air and back down to settle into Cosmo's lap. He suddenly pulled her towards him, and desperately grabbed a handful of her clothing. He held on to Wanda with all of his strength as Wanda let her fingers explore through the chaotic mess of his hair. As Wanda felt comfort in the feel of him, Cosmo felt the intense desperation to keep her by his side overtaking his heart as his grip on her tightened. He held on her as if she was the sole hope of their future together. And with a sharp intake of breath, Cosmo bravely looked at the girl he loved more than anything, and asked,

"Will there ever be a time when we will have to face a barrier between us?"

One of the corners of Wanda's lips turned up into a half-smile, as she was conflicted between the overwhelming love she felt for him and the nagging fear of losing him that stabbed at her heart. However, she held on to the hope that there was a solid solution that guaranteed their success in the future. She kept this hope alive, she _had_ to keep this hope alive, just like a bright spark of a continuously burning flame.

And suddenly, the answer hit her.

"We'll just break through it." Wanda stated simply as she shuffled out of Cosmo's grip and wrapped her hand around her discarded wand beside her. Cosmo watched her curiously as she presented her wand to him with a glimmer in her eyes, and Cosmo instantly recognised that familiar indication that told him clearly that Wanda had a good idea in mind, "Let's make our promise official."

"Are you sure this will work?" Cosmo asked her nervously with a raised eyebrow as he took hold of his own wand and let it hover and tremble next to hers, "Promises made by fairies are so much more powerful than human promises... I don't want you to get mixed up in anything harmful because of me..."

"Cosmo, don't worry. Relax, this isn't going to have any negative repercussions, trust me." Wanda smiled and assured him softly as she laid her palm over his hand in comfort, "I love you. I wouldn't do this with any other person other than you."

With a widened smile, and the resounding sound of his heartbeat ringing like an orchestra of drums in his ears, Cosmo readily leant his wand against hers and captured her slender fingers in his palms. He could barely get a grip of himself while he was around Wanda already, and after everything she had said to him that night, after each sincerely compassionate word she spoke, he couldn't keep anything to himself any longer as if his heart had jumped out of his throat and hung on to his sleeve,

"Wanda... no matter what will change between us, no matter what we will face in our future together, we will be okay in the end. We _will_ get through it all. I know we'll get through anything, because I don't want to live through a changing future without you in mine." Cosmo's ears flared into a heated shade of red as Wanda's glassy eyes softened the more he spoke, "And I know if we ever get lost, or if we ever feel lost, I know that we'll be able to find each other and break through anything. I just know it."

"I do too," she replied with a heartfelt sigh as her eyes wandered to their wands gently crossed against each other, "In order for this to work, we need to solidify our promise with a secret phrase."

"A phrase? Hm, what could it be?" Cosmo asked her with wonder and a slight tilt of his head.

For a moment, Wanda captured her chin between her fingers as she withdrew into deep thought as Cosmo did the same. Wanda knew that the phrase had to be simple, so Cosmo could remember it, and it had to have relevance to the promise that they were both about to make. It took a few quiet moments for her to think of something indefinitely, but as an idea finally popped into her head, her eyes widened and sparkled with a thrill as she enthusiastically shouted aloud,

"I'm ready..."

"Break down the barriers!" Cosmo had excitedly shouted his phrase the moment Wanda had finished, and before they both knew what they had inadvertently done, their wands suddenly began to buzz with life.

Cosmo quickly passed her an apologetic look before their visions were blinded by the sudden flash of light that had pierced between them both. Their wands emitted a sharp ray of light that shot towards the skies like a beautiful blaze of glimmering colours, as if a strip of the rainbow had been broken away and sealed inside their wands. The air around them quickly picked up into harsh winds that violently threw their hair around their faces, and the ground rumbled beneath their feet as the strong current of magic that sprang from their wands enveloped them both and moved their world into tremors by the weight of their promise. And as quickly as it had appeared, the beam had retreated back into their wands and dimmed into a small flicker of light that began to fade away into nothingness.

The ground halted to a stop. Their visions finally returned and their wind-struck hair stuck to the perspiration around their faces. For a moment, they could only stare at each other, completely confounded by what had just occurred.

"Did... did we do it right?" Cosmo was almost afraid to ask.

"No, we didn't. But it's too late to change the phrase now." Wanda told him with an exasperated smile and wiped away the small beads of sweat from her forehead as she slowly relaxed. Cosmo curiously looked over at his palms, as if he searched for a difference, and his eyes zipped from one to the other as he inspected himself closely. Wanda had to ask, "Do you feel any different?"

Cosmo took a few seconds to process the question as he looked up from his hands and saw Wanda's tense shoulders raise, and her anxious eyes shimmered with worry. He blinked at her, watching her carefully watch him in return. And he replied quietly,

"Yeah, I do feel different."

Wanda swallowed and bit down on her lip,

"How does it feel?"

Before Wanda could react, Cosmo suddenly leant forward and gently kissed her lips, then lightly moved his fingertips over her heated cheekbone, and dug his fingers into the wild array of rose-coloured curls falling over her shoulders. Wanda stiffened in complete shock, and her heart hitched erratically in her throat as the blood flushed over her face up to her hairline. Then, her eyes slowly closed as she gave in to him, and finally relaxed into his kiss as her fingers turned to butter, and she absent-mindedly dropped her wand to rest her hands over his wide shoulders. The world melted away beneath them as if the air had caught on fire. Their wands were cast away and quickly forgotten as if nothing else in their world had mattered.

And as Cosmo finally broke away, Wanda's eyes gradually opened to find Cosmo's grinning boyish smile only a couple inches away from her, as if he couldn't completely break away from her just yet.

"I feel like doing that a lot more often."

Wanda laughed as if her happiness was ready to burst from within her. And she smiled into a wide and toothy grin before she shook her head and hopelessly looked at him with endless love sheathed in her eyes,

"Well, at least you're still the same cheerful idiot that I fell in love with..."

...

...

…

_Present..._

…

"Break down the barriers!"

Cosmo yelled his phrase as loud as his voice could carry, and the beam of light that emanated from his wand suddenly bent and curved within the sky until it shuddered to a staggering halt in his hands. The harsh winds began to settle into a gentle breeze towards the direction of the curve, and Cosmo's hair flew upwards into one definitive course.

Then, as quick as he could move his damaged body, Cosmo pounced into the sky and fluttered his broken wings until he could hover overhead of the overgrown foliage that covered the entire train stop area. The ray of light that stretched outwards from his wand pierced through the sky and pointed towards a specific spot within the confides of Dimmsdale, until it faded across the horizon.

A small relieved smile crept upon his bruised face, and he peeked below his feet where Timmy and Anti-Cosmo stood anxiously on the sidelines.

"There!" Cosmo called out to them as he pointed a finger towards the arch of light, "That's where Wanda and Anti-Wanda are being held. Over there. All we have to do is follow the beam of light."

As Cosmo slowly and carefully descended back down towards the Earth, he staggered back to the top of the platform as Timmy quickly stepped up to him to grab a supportive hold of his shoulders, and wrapped Cosmo's dirtied blood-soaked arm around his waist.

"How do you know that they're there?" Anti-Cosmo asked suspiciously with an eyebrow raised to the skies.

"A long time ago, Wanda and I made a promise..." Cosmo began with a nostalgic smile and a painful cough as he stumbled unsteadily against Timmy. Once he managed to catch him and set him back on his feet, Timmy asked with wonder,

"A promise?"

"It's a little different from a human promise. They're like vows, but more... powerful. But we made a vow that whenever we become lost... and whenever we couldn't find each other, we would use a secret phrase to build a bridge of light that would lead us to one another. And this what you're looking at. This is it." Cosmo almost choked on his overwhelming emotions building and bubbling in his throat, and his voice strained through his monumental relief, "Wanda remembered... she... she remembered what it was... I'm so happy..."

"I've heard of these... they're spells that shape around the wishes of a promise made by two fairies. They're very rare, I think this is the first time I've ever seen one in action." Anti-Cosmo commented as he looked up and down the length of Cosmo's wand and the light that emitted from it. Then, he crossed his arms and sarcastically remarked with a smirk, "A technique to find someone you've lost, huh? Too bad you didn't have one of these lying around when we were looking for Timmy earlier. It would have saved us a ton of time and grief."

"Yeah..." Cosmo weakly laughed and clutched at the pain throbbing in his stomach.

After his attention was turned to the wand continuously buzzing in his grip, Cosmo gazed with sadness at the result of the promise he had made with Wanda so many years ago. To him, it didn't seem like a day had gone by since the moment he knew he would spend his immortal life with her. It didn't seem like time was ever a factor whenever he looked into the kind and understanding eyes of his wife. Every time he saw her, every time he touched her, every time he kissed her, all of his problems, his fears, his failures, his insecurities... everything that made him feel small and weak seemed to melt away into a vat of nothingness. Nothing else matter. Except her.

Wanda was, in every sense of the word, his strength. Wanda was everything he strove to be. Wanda was his inspiration, his hope in his life, his crutch when he stands. She was simply everything.

And the entire time he had been apart from her, there wasn't a moment where he felt complete. It felt as if another part of him had been ripped away. And in place, a considerably large void had torn a gaping hole in his heart, and he cried for Wanda to fix him. He had spent over ten thousand years with her, and each day had a monumentally large impact in his life, and he knew nothing could replace the happiness that all those years had provided. Nothing at all.

_Over ten thousand years with her..._ _ten thousand years_..._ and I couldn't stand one night apart from you..._

There.

That was the moment Cosmo had finally made up his mind. He wanted nothing else in the universe at that moment other than to see her again, and to see her safe by his side. At that moment, she needed him the most. She was in trouble, her life was on the line, and he couldn't stand by and do nothing about it. So he knew what he needed to do, and what had to be done. There was no turning back. There was no other way around it. He knew that this was the end of the road for him. This was it. No turning back

He knew he had to do it for her. He _needed_ to do it for her!

"Timmy," Cosmo turned to him, and with a look of absolute determination and tenacious grit, he sternly told him with nothing but intense passion in his voice, "I need you to do me one... more... favour..."

…

_FINAL ACT: The Moment Of Truth, Part I  
_

...

**AN: **We're nearing the end of the story! Thank you so, so, so much for staying with me for so long, and I hope you all stick around for the long conclusion split into two parts. Cheers for reading!


	14. Final Act, Part I

…

FINAL ACT: The Moment Of Truth, Part I

…

The air was alive with electricity, and pulsating with raw magical energy that centred around the muscular shape of Mr. Crocker's newly-formed body. He hunched forward as his hump increased in mass, and his bony spine poked through his grey skin like a reptile, whilst the clothes ripped and strained against his enlarged limbs that exaggerated the strength of his power. He could feel the magic surging through every inch of him, he could practically taste the overwhelming power taking over his flesh and the density of his bones felt as if they mutated into steel. Mr. Crocker shook and shed away his weak figure, and transformed into a colossal powerhouse in a frenzied state of mind. In desperation, he grasped at his skull in an attempt to steady his rabid condition.

But the raw power that he wielded was getting too much. His head was heavy and clouded, and his calculated mind was overrun with rage and pure hatred for the human race. The images of everyone he knew, everyone who laughed at him, everyone who underestimated his madness, rushed through his frantic mind until he screeched into a battle cry. He was out for blood. He was no longer in control of himself. He was a crazed beast of his own genius, and he unleashed himself on to the vulnerable world.

Wanda and Anti-Wanda were incredibly weak and unresponsive. Their powers had been stripped away until they could no longer find the energy to stay conscious. They were lifeless and unmoving within their cells, as Mr. Crocker's monstrous shadow loomed over them like a terrifying volcano bubbling with anticipation, and he was more than ready to erupt. He could feel the destructive power harnessed at the tips of his fingers, coursing through the boiling blood in his veins, and with a demented grin, he decided in an instant who would become his first victim.

Slowly but eagerly, Mr. Crocker turned his freakish body towards the netted cages, and pointed his fingertips crackling with deadly magic towards Wanda.

_Fairies... it all started with you..._

The fairies were the beings that ruined his life. His unhealthy fascination and obsession on them lead him down a lonely path, and his life was filled with humiliation, alienation and regret. He hated them for what he had turned into. He hated them for the life he lost, the life he could have had if his path hadn't crossed with the fairies that greeted him in childhood.

He wanted them all to die. He wanted them to perish alongside the toxic world that he was so determined to destroy. He wanted everything to fall. He wanted everything to disappear. And he wanted Wanda to be the first domino to go.

"Yet, you remind me of a face I've long since forgotten since childhood, pink fairy. You remind me of a deeply repressed memory, a fragment that left behind an unspeakable void that still haunts me to this day. I wonder if this was fated to happen from the very beginning... I wonder if you were the trigger, the destined being to plunge this world into endless destruction at my hands... hm, how fitting that I will use your power to do so."

Wanda squeezed her eyes shut, and begged for the strength to lift her hands and cover her ears. She didn't want to hear this, it was getting too much to bare. All she could feel was the agonising pain from her heart falling to pieces.

"This is all your fault, you know. You created me. You and... yes, that green-haired fairy that you're partnered to... you are both responsible for everything that's about to happen. Remember this in your afterlife! You are the cause of every infliction I will make to this society. You are the one that will end the world, end the universe, end all of _existence._" Mr. Crocker's cruel smile widened as he saw a small set of tears squeeze out of the corner of Wanda's eyes, "Oh, don't do that. You'll make me feel bad. Tell you what, this should make you feel better. I'm getting rid of you now so you don't have to see your loved ones suffer in pain. You should feel honoured, pink fairy. Consider this... _a kindness."_

Wanda lay face down as she waited for the inevitable. She could feel the heavy current in the air raising around the edges of Mr. Crocker's fingertips. She avoided his psychotically wide eyes, bloodshot with rage, and avoided looking at his trembling hands surging with her stolen power. It would have been like looking down the barrel of a gun. It was terrifying, and Wanda was shaking with fear as she awaited her fate. She believed in Mr. Crocker's words, she believed that she was entirely at fault, and she could do nothing more than accept falling into the hands of the consequences.

_This is it._ In a few moments, she would feel nothing. She would leave this world behind, she would abandon her godson, and she would never see her husband again.

_I'm sorry, Cosmo... I guess I couldn't keep our promise after all..._

With one final deep breath, she savoured her last moments with memories she shared with everyone she had ever loved. All the treasured memories she held dear to her heart flooded her mind, all her precious thoughts brought a tiny sad smile to her face and a sole tear falling over her nose, and the last image she chose to display before her eyes was of the exact moment she had fallen in love with Cosmo - the moment he flashed her his trademark boyish grin. In that singular second, she knew that she would always be his. Always.

Mr. Crocker was drawing nearer and nearer to her cage, seething and laughing with cruel enjoyment, when all of a sudden, the ceiling above them all began to crumble away. At first, a few trickles of garbage had began to scratch away at the surface, until large chunks of the cave ceiling collapsed in itself, fell to the Earth and interrupted Mr. Crocker's murderous intent. He jumped back in surprise, and his enlarged body crashed against the trembling cave walls that began to fall away behind him. He fell clumsily against it, until he collapsed to his knees and staggered to the ground.

In the middle of the room, and above the fallen rubble that lay in a pile of filthy mess and dirt, the discarded wreckage began to move and fall away from the top, until a frantic hand suddenly popped up and emerged from the remains.

"Ugh, why did Crocker have to build his secret lair underneath the garbage dump! This is the grossest thing ever!" Timmy loudly complained as he crawled and rolled out of the ruins, wiped away the filth that clung to his clothes and his skin, and dug his nose against his forearm as the putrid smell overcame his senses.

Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo followed suit as they stumbled out of the wreckage in a very dizzy state. With a desperate shake of his head, Cosmo's eyes rolled in their sockets as he tried to clear his double vision, and held on to his damaged head to steady himself.

"Oh man, I didn't realise how fast we were going... that landing was way too brutal..." Cosmo moaned as he took unstable steps beside Timmy, and held on to his shoulder for support.

Meanwhile, Mr. Crocker stared at the broken ceiling above his head, and the anger deeply-seated in the pits of his strong stomach pushed high above the limits.

_Fairies... more detestable fairies... ruining my plans, ruining my life..._

With ferocious rage ripping a growl from his throat, Mr. Crocker pushed himself back to his feet, took large and shaky steps towards them, and held out his monstrous hands like claws unfurling towards their direction. He foamed at the mouth, snarling in anticipation as his reddened eyes fixated on Cosmo's wobbly figure standing guard beside his godson. He flinched in terror as he saw Mr. Crocker bounding like a mad bull towards him, and quickly grabbed a hold of Timmy's arm as he yanked him out of the way with all of his remaining strength.

Timmy was only a couple of inches from being crushed beneath Mr. Crocker's overbearing grip, and had only been slightly grazed as Mr. Crocker's sharpened fingernails scraped across Timmy's back. His clothes tore on impact, and the scrape marks on his back looked as if he had been mauled by a bear. Cosmo was terrified for his godson's safety as he continued to shake away the last remaining dizzy spells that rung through his mind, and yet he recklessly held out his arms in front of Timmy in an attempt to keep him protected.

Whilst Mr. Crocker had been focused on gunning for Cosmo and Timmy, Anti-Cosmo had silently stepped off to the side in search of Wanda and Anti-Wanda. It didn't take him long as the light that shone from the newly-formed hole in the ceiling shone a beam of daylight over the area where the netted cages stood. He almost laughed at the sight. It was as if harps had sounded in the air as the Heavens had opened up and guided Anti-Cosmo in the right direction by displaying its holy light towards the girls. And in sheer desperation, Anti-Cosmo reached out for them, and held out his wand that sizzled with active magic. He was only a few feet away from them. It was almost too good to be true, it was almost too easy.

But Mr. Crocker had caught on to him all too soon.

Mr. Crocker turned over his shoulder, stretched out his elongated arm and swiped Anti-Cosmo away from them with a shot of magical current blasting out of his fingertips. The electricity stabbed at Anti-Cosmo's body as he was thrown across the room, and he shouted in agony as he crashed against the cave walls and lost his grip on his wand. Then, as he fell from the walls in a broken heap, and as the wand pathetically thumped to the ground, Mr. Crocker grinned in triumph, threw his head back and loudly let loose his maniacal laughter.

"This is hilarious! What a brilliant comedy act you fairies make! I have to say, you fairies really love to put on a show!" Mr. Crocker's frightening voice boomed, and the shuddering vibrations shook the entire cave as if the whole interior was on the verge of falling through, "I mean, really... how foolish of you to think you small fairies have the slightest chance of defeating me! Don't you realise how heavily outmatched you all are compared to me? I don't think you've fully grasped the reality of the situation here. So let me put it simplistically: I have the infinite power to bend the entire universe to my will. And yet you still think you can stop me?! That's so... priceless!"

Anti-Cosmo grabbed a hold of his knees as he struggled to stand on his feet, but he couldn't find his balance as Mr. Crocker continued to stagger around the room and cause small tremors throughout the cave. He almost toppled himself over from his psychotic laughter. Once he could finally calm down and breathe normally once again, Mr. Crocker wiped away the happy tears formed from his eyes, and his sinister smile turned towards the netted cages that had been coated over with the daylight sun seeping in through the broken ceiling.

"Ah, excellent, it's almost over. The process is nearing it's completion. I hope you all realise how fruitless your efforts are by now. In case you don't realise this, and I'm assuming you don't since simple concepts seem to go over your heads, let me put it as bluntly as possible: it's too late now. The process can no longer be reversed. I will never be the same again. My final form will become concrete forever more! And once I have drained the last remaining magical energy from these two lifeless fairies... once my body has reached it's true potential and the process has reached fruition... it will all begin. And then, it will all promptly _end!"_

Anti-Cosmo grunted in anguish and resentment, as he tried his best to keep his overwhelming anger under control. Through his damaged eyesight, Anti-Cosmo could barely make out the lifeless form of his wife trapped within the confines of her cage. He didn't want to think about it, but he knew what would happen to her without her magical power to sustain her. And if anything harmful had permanently damaged her, Anti-Cosmo knew... his unpredictable anger wouldn't be contained for long.

Meanwhile, Timmy couldn't stand it any more as he looked over the cages on the far side of the cave. He could see Wanda's unmoving body, and her motionless arm hanging limply against the net that encased her. She had no more strength to attempt to break free, yet her fingers were frozen as they clung on to the sides of her cage in one final effort to escape. He couldn't stand it any longer. Desperately, Timmy threw himself past Cosmo's protective grasp, and took a deep breath as his voice travelled through the cave like the frightening echoes of a ghost,

"Cosmo, listen up! I wish-"

Before he could even get started, Mr. Crocker hastily outstretched his exaggerated arm towards Timmy and shot a stream of magical current directly on to Timmy's face, until his mouth faded out of existence. Cosmo quickly stepped beside him, and gasped in horrified shock as he found Timmy erratically searching for his lips, until he jumped in petrified surprise when he could only feel the skin that had plastered over where his mouth had once been. Timmy panicked, attempted to speak out before realising he could no longer make a sound, and tried to concentrate on breathing through his nose instead.

And before Cosmo could even process the situation, Mr. Crocker took a heavy step forward, and created a large tremor within the fragile cave floors as his foot crashed towards the ground. Cosmo and Timmy were stunned, and were reduced to stumbling and wobbling in place as their legs felt as if they had turned to jelly, whilst Mr. Crocker took full advantage of this moment.

With a quick flick of his fingers, Mr. Crocker threw multiple pellets of magical concentration towards Cosmo and Timmy. Each one clasped a hold of Cosmo and Timmy's wrists and ankles as they were thrown backwards towards the crumbling cave walls, until they were paralysed against it. They were chained to the walls like prisoners with their wrists held high above their heads and their feet glued to the ground. They couldn't move, no matter how hard they tried. It was as if harsh magical electricity had continuously rang through their bodies and disabled every nerve in their limbs, until they were left helpless and crippled.

"Now those two are out of the way..." Mr. Crocker heavily breathed and slobbered as if he was a hungry beast staring with anticipation at his food, until he swiftly turned over his shoulder towards Anti-Cosmo, who was still struggling against the ground. Mr. Crocker towered over him like a mountain, and clenched his teeth as he squared his psychotically enlarged eyes towards him, "Don't think I've forgotten about you."

Anti-Cosmo felt as if his entire body was too heavy to carry, as if gravity had held him slaved to the ground. Then, he helplessly stared back in pure horror before Mr. Crocker's gigantic hand swiped at the cave floor and grabbed a firm hold of Anti-Cosmo's leg. He pulled him up into the air and let him dangle upside down in his large grasp, before his demented grin widened as he watched Anti-Cosmo struggle and wriggle within his grip.

"Hmm, I feel it. I feel _almost_ complete. But, now that I think about it, just because I have drained the magical energy out of those two small fairies, that doesn't imply that I have truly reached the pinnacle of my abilities. You know, it doesn't necessarily mean I won't need _more_ power..."

Mr. Crocker's monstrously enlarged face leant closer towards Anti-Cosmo. His giant widened eyes motionlessly stared back at him, and for a terrifying moment, Anti-Cosmo felt as if he could see a glimmer inside of Mr. Crocker's mentally deranged state of mind, "I have a spare cage that I've been dying to use for some time now. And, as it so happens, it's the exact same size as _you._ Isn't that exciting! You fairies might just prove to be useful to me after all... that is, until I've taken all of your magical powers. I don't imagine I'll need any of you after that. So, I'll simply erase you all from existence once I've harnessed all of the magical power in the universe!"

Having heard enough of this, Timmy fought to find the strength within him to gradually turn his head over to Cosmo. After he mustered up everything he had, Timmy managed to catch a glimpse of Cosmo chained up and dangling helplessly by his side. His eyes barely managed to widen in surprise as he found Cosmo weakly staring back in return.

It broke Cosmo's heart the moment he managed to look at his godson. The desperation and worry were incredibly evident in Timmy's eyes, as if Timmy was internally begging for his help. All Timmy wanted was to scream at the top of his lungs to stop all this, but he was stripped of his voice and his strength, and he was left defenselessly staring for answers from Cosmo to save them all.

Cosmo sensed this in an instant, and he squeezed his eyes shut in one final desperate attempt to think of a way through this. But his mind drew a blank. It was as if a flat dial tone had rung through his ears, and the bare plains of his empty mind drew up nothing that appeared to be useful to them. He had to be truthful, even if it was to hurt them both, and he finally opened his eyes to gaze back at Timmy with a sorrowful and apologetic look,

"I'm so sorry, Timmy... I-I can't think of anything," he told him honestly, and Timmy's face fell along with his hope. When all of a sudden, Cosmo's face lit up the moment a small playful smile crossed his lips, and his optimism was clearly evident in his sudden chirpy tone of voice, "But you should know... the reason I can't think of anything is because you wished for me to return to normal. Remember?"

Timmy's head quickly shot up as the memory of the wish played through his mind. Somehow, he had completely forgotten that the moment before they crash landed inside Mr. Crocker's lair, Cosmo had requested Timmy to wish for his intelligence to drop back to normal. And as Timmy slightly nodded in understanding, his eyes began to sparkle as the realisation of the situation slowly began to dawn on him, and Cosmo's smile widened as his cheerful tone of voice returned at long last.

"And since I've been returned back to normal... that also means that Anti-Cosmo has been too!"

And as Cosmo turned his eyes back to the action, Anti-Cosmo swiftly dug his hand inside of his coat pocket, and fished out Cosmo's wand that he had taken from him earlier and safely hidden away in his clothes. Everything had so far gone perfectly according to plan. Mr. Crocker was too slow to realise that Anti-Cosmo was suddenly armed, and with a sharp flick of Cosmo's wand and an intimidating scowl, Mr. Crocker was abruptly blinded by a sudden flash of light shining in his enlarged eyes. Mr. Crocker screamed in pain and surprise, stumbled backwards on his unsteady feet, and instinctively released his grip from around Anti-Cosmo's leg.

Swiftly, Anti-Cosmo dropped down to the ground into freedom and landed skilfully on to his knee. Then as he rose to his feet with a satisfied smirk, his overconfidence in himself returned in full force as he expertly spun Cosmo's wand around in one hand before stretching it out towards Timmy and Cosmo, and used it to eradicate the chains from around their wrists and ankles. Once they were freed from the confines of the chains, they simultaneously dropped safely to the ground and rubbed at their sore wrists before passing Anti-Cosmo a small but grateful smile.

But Anti-Cosmo's cocky celebration was short-lived, as he was suddenly interrupted by a slow rumble directly beneath his feet. He looked beside him to find Mr. Crocker quivering on one knee, and had crouched down with one trembling hand covering one of his eyes. A terrified shiver ran down Anti-Cosmo's skin as he looked into Mr. Crocker's other bloodshot eye that had widened and bulged with pure loathing and rage, and found himself frozen in terror as he stared at Mr. Crocker's free hand shakily stretching towards him with an intense array of magical current shooting towards the ground.

And all of a sudden, the floor cracked and rose into a small platform directly underneath Anti-Cosmo's feet, until it began to quickly lift itself into the air at a terrifying speed. Anti-Cosmo shouted loudly in sheer shock, clumsily dropped his wand and fell to his hands and knees from the force of being thrown upwards as he was suddenly being tossed towards the ceiling, and he was only moments away from being crushed against it. He squeezed his eyes instinctively as he waited for impact.

"Mmphf, mmhm!" Timmy screamed for him, but his voice was too muffled for anyone to hear.

Meanwhile, Cosmo had managed to catch his wand the moment that Anti-Cosmo had inadvertently tossed and discarded it. And as quickly as he could, he waved the wand towards the skies and swiftly removed Anti-Cosmo from the raising platform before it heavily impacted against the ceiling and broke through it. The ceiling once again began to crumble above them, and piles of garbage and dirt spilled into piles inside the confines of the lair. Cosmo threw himself over Timmy as the rubble collapsed on top of them, and braced themselves as Mr. Crocker desperately waded through the fallen ruins of his lair towards them.

"How dare you... _how dare you destroy everything I've worked for!" _Mr. Crocker's thunderous voice travelled easily through the sounds of the falling garbage crashing against the steel platform below them, and shook the cave all the more.

Once Cosmo made sure that Timmy was in an area that was safe from the falling wreckage and out of Mr. Crocker's line of fire, Cosmo scowled as he turned to face Mr. Crocker struggling to charge towards him. All of a sudden, Cosmo leapt into the air with his hands firmly wrapped around his wand that surged with his unrelenting power. And as his wings battled against the pain ringing through his body, Cosmo managed to hover into the air towards Mr. Crocker's sight. He was determined to face him alone.

Cosmo knew that his tactics were reckless and brash, he knew that his methods were not thought out and were completely haphazard, but he also knew that his careless nature had the advantage of being unpredictable to everyone, including himself. His senseless bravery, his faith in his erratic actions, and his ability to walk through Hell and back for the sake of his loved ones – it was his greatest strength.

Cosmo smiled in unyielding relief, and a sense of peace of mind washed over him, even as he was hovering in the midst of a battlefield. The settings that surrounded him was falling through, the love of his life had one foot in her own grave, the enemy was charging towards him with murder fresh in his bloodshot eyes, the entire world was on the brink of annihilation, and the future was unclear and unwritten and frightening...

His intelligence was gone, and he was abandoned once again to his uncertainty, and his idiocy. And yet, he was okay with that. He finally felt okay. He laughed out loud at it all.

_Okay._

_Everything is going to be okay._

Time seemed to slow down around him as he descended towards Mr. Crocker. And when Cosmo lifted his wand high into the air until it had stretched all the way back behind his shoulders, he quickly threw all of his remaining magic at full force towards Mr. Crocker's crazed eyes. Once again, he was blinded by the bright flashes of light that Cosmo's wand had emitted, and he screamed in frustrated agony as he tripped on his own two feet and slammed against the dirtied ground. He snarled bitterly, and pounded at the ground in unrelenting resentment.

"This... this isn't right! This isn't how it's supposed to be! This can't fail again!" Mr. Crocker's enraged voice rose through his clenched teeth as he struggled to lift himself back to his feet, but his enlarged damaged body felt as if he was cemented to the ground, and more pieces of rubble collapsed against him from the ceiling. Yet his never-ending hatred was evident in his harsh voice as he continued to struggle and lament, "You don't realise... who you're dealing with here! _You fairy trash!_ You don't know who... you don't know _what_ you're going up against!"

"Why don't you enlighten us, then?" Cosmo called from mid-air, then grinned when a sudden ironic thought crossed his mind, "I've learnt that it feels good to come to terms with who you really are. So why don't you let us help you out with that?"

"Impudent little fairy!" Mr. Crocker shouted with pure hatred, and spat as if there was venom hanging on to every word, "I know who I am, and I know my place. Don't you realise? I am too good for this world, and yet no one ever seems to realise that!"

Mr. Crocker struggled to lift himself from the ground, and barely managed to prop himself up on to his forearms as the veins on his neck bulged against his thick skin. And when his face lifted to glare in pure animosity towards Cosmo, he seethed his words through his clenched teeth,

"Do you even realise what I've been through to get to this point? I was thrown out of this society like vermin! And for what?! For getting too hung up on the notion that once the existence of fairies was proven to the world, then I would finally be accepted as something more than a crazed conspiracy theorist. And maybe, I thought, maybe I would be seen as an actual human being!"

Mr. Crocker shook his head, and ground his teeth as his anger was continuously rising and rising until he could see nothing but red all around him,

"But, as much as it pains me to admit this, they were right all along about one thing... I am crazy. I'm crazy for ever thinking that I was ever a part of them, when all along... I _never_ have been. I've never fit in, never belonged to anyone, I've never even felt a real human connection. But I've figured out why... it's because I've evolved beyond the need for others. My genius has allowed me to rise above all of that childish nonsense. Acceptance... compassion... empathy... it's all so infantile. I am simply an entity above human comprehension. I am beyond every conceptual divinity on this wretched Earth. I am... truly... the almighty!"

Mr. Crocker's head shot up as his spit flailed around his face, and his terrifying screams ripped from his throat in a bout of rage and pure loathing,

"Do you hear that, fairies?! I possess the kind of power that you only hear about in fiction! I am highest in rank! I am your _superior!_ And I will see that you will never set foot on my planet ever _again!_ I will make this world rot beneath my power, I will cripple this society as every human being submits to my crushing influence, and I will become it's judge, it's jury, it's executioner! I will decide what this world truly deserves! Do you all hear me?! Do you realise it now?! I... I am _the ultimate godfather!"_

"Hey Marlon Brando," Anti-Cosmo suddenly called out from the far side of the cave, and Mr. Crocker quickly turned over to find him dangerously hovering over the control panel. Then all of the blood poured from his face as his relentless rage was replaced with gut-wrenching fear the moment Anti-Cosmo's fingers wrapped around the lever. Anti-Cosmo smirked as he relished in his dominance once again, and retorted, "How about we help you break out of this inflated fantasy of yours?"

Before Mr. Crocker could even try to defend himself, Anti-Cosmo quickly yanked the lever resting on the control panel up to it's original position, and Mr. Crocker let out a horrifying cry of pain. He fell face down against the steel platform beneath him, and was pulled towards the ground as the magic he harnessed in his body began to reverse the process, until he could feel a heavy energy source in the very centre of him forcefully lift from out of his pores. He screamed as he writhed in pain,

"No... no, dammit, this is impossible! I was almost complete... _I was almost a god!"_

Everything was beginning to reverse. The thick mass of Mr. Crocker's deformed body had began to shrink in size as his muscles deflated back to it's original weakened weight. His elongated face squashed his features back together again, his accentuated claws had shrivelled back to small bony fingers, and his reddened skin that had once boiled over from his unrelenting fury had faded to an unhealthy shade of grey. He immediately felt the overbearing powerful energy that had once surged throughout his entire body quickly drain out of him, until he was left quivering in despair amongst the remaining scraps of his lair.

Cosmo squinted his eyes as he hovered curiously overhead of the netted cages, and breathed a hefty sigh of relief as he noticed the healthy pink hue on Wanda's skin had once again returned. Her fingers squeezed over her netted cage as her strength was rapidly returning to her body. And although Wanda and Anti-Wanda were still laying down, they were only exhausted from having their magical powers forcefully pulled out of them, and it would take a few moments for them to fully recover from their tiring experience.

Meanwhile, Anti-Cosmo had Mr. Crocker in his sights, and he approached him with an intimidating scowl glaring straight into Mr. Crocker's frightened eyes. It was a devastating difference from only moments ago, now that Mr. Crocker's bloodshot eyes were weak and fatigued. He trembled as he recoiled into a fetal position in self-defense, and pathetically whimpered in one final attempt to appear aggressive,

"You... you can't do this to me... I'm... I'm better than this... I'm... superior, I'm... powerful..."

"Wrong." Anti-Cosmo bluntly replied with malice, and lifted his head as he looked down on Mr. Crocker from a domineering height, "You're nothing. You're just a sad little man with a distorted god complex. Do yourself a favour and get a hobby. Go find something else to do to express your self-loathing, instead of blaming all your problems on the rest of us." Then, slowly, Anti-Cosmo grabbed a hold of the remnants of Mr. Crocker's tie as he forcedly yanked him off the ground, and squared his hardened eyes at his. Then he hissed through his clenched teeth, "And let me put this as bluntly as possible so that _you_ understand: you endanger my family again, you die. Got that?"

Mr. Crocker cowered beneath him, and as his knees shook in total fear, he was too afraid to even open his mouth. Words had been stuck in his throat, and he could only feel the surging rage building within Anti-Cosmo's clenched fists as he raised one in the air. Timmy saw this immediately and quickly jumped in with his hands waving in the air to protest,

"No, Anti-Cosmo, wait. Don't do that." Timmy stopped him just in time before Anti-Cosmo could swing a punch at him, and shot Timmy a confused look as he turned over his shoulder with Mr. Crocker's tie remaining tight in his grip, "C'mon now, look at him. Does Crocker really look like he's worth your time and energy? Look, he's shivering. This is way too sad, so let's just leave him be, okay?"

Anti-Cosmo stared straight back at Mr. Crocker, and he instantly flinched in terror as their eyes met once again. There was clearly murderous intent flaring in Anti-Cosmo's hardened stare, but as he felt Timmy's gaze burn against the back of his head, Anti-Cosmo sighed with exhaustion and promptly dropped Mr. Crocker to the ground. Then, as he stepped to the side to avoid further eye contact, Anti-Cosmo crossed his arms and harshly commented,

"You're fortunate to have a compassionate boy like Timmy take pity on you." Timmy grinned with satisfaction, but it was short-lived as Anti-Cosmo suddenly turned on his heels and swiftly plunged his foot against the base of Mr. Crocker's stomach. He shouted out in pain, Timmy gasped and Anti-Cosmo stood tall above him as he casually straightened his unkempt sleeves, and warned him one final time, "Not everyone will be quite as compassionate. Next time, I assure you, you won't be so lucky."

"You didn't have to kick him." Timmy scolded Anti-Cosmo as he approached him, whilst Anti-Cosmo rolled his eyes indifferently.

"Sometimes you forget just who you're talking to."

Timmy dared to grin in response,

"No, I think I have a pretty clear idea. In fact, if I'm brutally honest, I don't think you're as villainous as you so claim to be!"

Anti-Cosmo paused for a moment, and sweated under Timmy's perspective gaze, until he coughed into his hand to regain his domineering person. Then, without an ounce of sarcasm, Anti-Cosmo smirked as he quipped,

"Careful what you say, Timmy, I may be tempted to prove you wrong."

"Let's save this for later, huh?" Timmy suddenly interrupted him as he turned to look over his shoulder, and pointed over to the netted cages with an apathetic smile, "Looks like Cosmo's having trouble with the escape plan."

Anti-Cosmo and Timmy quickly waded through the piles of wreckage and rubble scattered around the cave, and headed towards Cosmo sitting anxiously next to the Wanda's gridded cage with part of the net tangled over his head. With a sympathetic sigh, Timmy looked over at him as he wondered how Cosmo had managed to get caught so deeply in the net, and Anti-Cosmo's eyebrow arched to the skies as he wasn't surprised in the slightest.

"I got trapped." Cosmo quietly told them and pathetically lifted up the knotted net wrapped around his fingers.

"Yes, we can see that, idiot." Anti-Cosmo said coldly before he promptly turned to tend to Anti-Wanda's cage. Meanwhile, Timmy bent down to his knees as he cautiously began to unravel the many knotted layers of net pinned over Cosmo's head, and noticed how this incident alone had shaken Cosmo's confidence. If Timmy had learnt anything from that day, it was that Cosmo was prone to reveal his vulnerability very easily. With a heartfelt sigh, Timmy placed a comforting hand on Cosmo's shoulder, and finally caught his glassy gaze.

"You shouldn't worry so much about this. You know, it's thanks to you keeping Crocker busy that Anti-Cosmo was able to get to the control panel and put everything back to normal in the first place." Timmy finally managed to lift the net off of his godfather's head, and he softly smiled with genuine gratitude in his gentle voice, "We couldn't have done it without you, Cosmo. And I'm sure Wanda will be more than grateful once we tell her all about it."

Cosmo's face brightened up all the more as he heard this, and swiped his watery eyes and sodden nose with his forearm before looking back at Timmy with a hopeful gaze,

"You really think so?"

"I know so." Timmy grinned as he yanked the remainder of the net from around Cosmo and lifted the remnants of the metallic grid away from where Wanda lay.

She stirred in her unconscious state, and her face winced as she struggled to regain her strength, until Cosmo leant next to her and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders and slipped his other hand under her legs. With a careful lift, Cosmo picked up his wife bridal style and held her close to him to keep her safe from the falling rubble falling from the ceiling. He flinched as Wanda managed to find the strength to lift her trembling arms and wrap them around his neck, whilst her head became buried in the comforting warmth of his shoulder. His entire body immediately heated up after that, and he tightly pressed his lips together as he tried to steady his racing heartbeat, but it couldn't slow down no matter how much he tried.

Over ten thousand years of marriage, he thought, and still Wanda had the exact same affect on him since their first day together.

"Are we all ready to go?" Anti-Cosmo asked them nearby.

As Cosmo turned over his shoulder to him, he grinned knowingly when he saw Anti-Wanda laying in a similar bridal style in Anti-Cosmo's arms with her hands clutching on to his clothes, and the shade of scarlet flushed over Anti-Cosmo's blue-skinned face. Anti-Cosmo recognised Cosmo's smug grin in an instant, and his blush deepened as his voice suddenly became flustered, "Alright, alright, let's just get out of here, okay?"

After a nod of approval from Timmy, the entire group were enveloped in a bubble of magic, and had disappeared in an instant.

A second later, they found themselves standing on top a hillside overlooking the eastern side of Dimmsdale. Cosmo instantly spotted a nearby evergreen tree and carried his wife towards it. The area wasn't too overgrown, but it was rife with foliage, and Cosmo knew it was comfortable enough for Wanda to be gently placed down against the trunk of the tree and propped up with fallen autumn leaves pooled at the base of the roots. She stirred again as her arms had slipped away from Cosmo's shoulders, and almost scowled in her sleep once she could no longer feel Cosmo against her.

Suddenly, the group were interrupted by the ground shaking under their feet, and the overbearing sound of an explosion filling the air from nearby. As they all turned around to follow the sound, they watched in shock as a large black cloud of smoke erupted into the sky from the area of the dumping grounds. Fire had engulfed the entire area until it disappeared into a small flame in the air that seemed to distinguish itself, and the remains of the broken lair that lay beneath it had been covered in large piles of ash and rubble.

Timmy turned to stare accusingly at Anti-Cosmo, who looked back in return and seemed almost surprised by Timmy's reaction,

"What, you expect us to leave that place alone as if that crazed maniac won't go back and continue what he started? Wise up, Timmy. I destroyed it for the benefit of our safety... and partly because I wanted to." Then with a disapproving glance in Mr. Crocker's direction, Anti-Cosmo seethed with disdain, "Though I wasn't counting on the wretch actually escaping along with us. I had intended for him to go up in flames along with the explosion. But I should no better than to expect my plans to go along smoothly, not when the three of you are around anyway."

"Why..." Mr. Crocker breathed as he finally stumbled up to his feet, but he swayed as his weak statue could barely stay fully upright. His face was completely crestfallen, and his voice was filled with anguish, "I... I don't understand this. I was going to kill you all. Doesn't that matter to you? So why... why did you spare my life?"

"I'd like to know that too, actually." Anti-Cosmo commented callously as he turned to face Cosmo, "Why did you bring him here with us?"

"Well, I don't think it's right to just leave him there." Cosmo bluntly replied and shrugged as if it was the most natural response, "If he was to die because of us, then what would be the difference between our motives and his? Regardless of our reasons or motivations, killing is wrong. And at the end of the day, we'd be no better than him. At least... that's what I believe."

The moment Cosmo glanced over to Timmy, he smiled in relief as Timmy nodded his head in agreement. Timmy grinned widely as he was so proud of his godfather, and how far he had come in as little as two days. Whilst Anti-Cosmo rolled his eyes at the scene, and bit his tongue to withhold his own personal opinions on the matter. Then Cosmo peered to the ground as his muddled words strung together in his mind, and felt there was one more thing to confess to,

"And, to some extent, I kind of understand him, and why he's the way he is."

Mr. Crocker winced in disgust, and yet his tired eyes widened in further astonishment.

"You understand? How... could you possibly..."

"I felt the same way, you know. For a while, I was so caught up in my own personal baggage, so wrapped up in the bloated idea that there was simply no hope for me, that I wanted to believe that all my problems would be solved once I changed myself completely from the guy I used to be. I wanted to believe after I had changed everything about me, all my failures from the past wouldn't bother me anymore, and everything in the future would be so much better for me. It would be so much better for everyone." Cosmo's head gradually lifted, and instantly caught Mr. Crocker's curious gaze, "And that's what you believed too, right?"

Mr. Crocker remained silent. He didn't have the strength to defend himself anymore, and he also didn't have the strength to hide from himself either. So, after his gaze flickered to the side as he gave in to his guilt and shame, Cosmo tilted his head to catch Mr. Crocker's gaze once again, and smiled sympathetically before he continued gently,

"It's not as simple as that, is it? Well believe me, it really isn't. So, when it all comes down to it, the way you can start changing yourself for the better is to come to terms with who you truly are. There's nothing more challenging than learning about yourself, but it's one step forward after you do. Because behind the veil of your ideal self, there's a man who gives himself permission to be imperfect. He'll know how to move forward from there."

Wanda stirred once more from afar.

During this time, Anti-Cosmo gripped tighter on to his wife as he reflected on those words, and silently let the reality sink in that he couldn't face the possibility of being a failed villain. He withheld so much pride in his work, he wanted nothing more than to shoot for the stars, and he refused to believe that he was anything less than perfection. When the idea that he was simply too arrogant and overconfident passed through his mind, he realised that he had to step backwards and accept his faults. He had to accept that success didn't always count on his intelligence. He had to admit that his swollen ego could come between him and his wife. And with that in mind, he stared wistfully at Anti-Wanda in his arms, and promised in his heart to take on his experience from that day as a lesson for him in the future.

Mr. Crocker gradually took a deep breath as he also reflected on Cosmo's advice. But he was unsure or not whether to take it with a grain of salt. As he staggered between his internal conflict, Mr. Crocker turned to trek down the hillside, after he glanced back at Cosmo one final time to leave him with these parting words,

"...until next time, fairy."

As Mr. Crocker stumbled down the hillside until he was out of sight within the confines of Dimmsdale, Anti-Cosmo flinched in surprise as his wife groaned and yawned in his grasp. Feeling suddenly shy about carrying her in front of an audience, Anti-Cosmo's eyes widened in panic as he clumsily let her back down to her feet, and uneasily coughed in his hand to clear his throat,

"Anti-Wanda, you're... well, are you alright?" He asked her anxiously as he kept hold of her shoulders, and she staggered against him with barely any strength to stand. She gripped on to his clothes once again as she struggled to open her eyes, and gazed back at Anti-Cosmo under her long eyelashes before suddenly giving him a shaken toothy grin.

"Yeah, I'm fine... thanks... um, what happened, though?"

Then, as if she was summoned, Wanda's eyes fluttered open as she gradually began to regain consciousness. Immediately after seeing this, Timmy and Cosmo joined her by her side and watched as she deeply breathed in the fresh air of the foliage that surrounded her. It was a pleasant surprise to finally be out of the dumping grounds, and out of the putrid smells that it wrought.

"Where... where am I now?" Wanda asked in her dizzy state, and held her head in her hands as if she attempted to press down her headaches, "I keep waking up in really strange places..."

"Don't worry, you're safe now." Anti-Cosmo confidently assured them as he passed Anti-Wanda an all-knowing smile. For a moment, Anti-Wanda was too slow to notice what kind of smile that was, and what that exactly indicated, until Cosmo suddenly interrupted with an unease,

"Well, I think we're safe, anyway. I'm not entirely sure, though." Cosmo told them as he sweated under Wanda's quizzical gaze, "I was the one that got us out of there... but I'm not entirely sure where we are now. It's entirely possible that we could still be in danger, but I don't know..."

"That wasn't very smart, Cosmo." Wanda sighed in exasperation and ran an exhausted hand through her unkempt curls. Then, suddenly all the lights had switched on in her mind as her eyes widened in total shock, and she quickly turned back to Cosmo as her mouth dropped open as if she could barely find the words, "That... wasn't very smart!"

"Hey, no need to rub it in!" Cosmo laughed in relief as he was overwhelmed in the comfort that Wanda was perfectly fine after all that had happened. Then Wanda waved her hands at him in protest as she tried to find the appropriate words,

"No, I mean... you're you! You're back..."

"Was I gone?" Cosmo asked her in confusion. And as he tilted his head to the side in wonder, Wanda burst into a fit of laughter as she was never so happy to see Cosmo confused about something in her life. Cosmo grinned as he heard the welcoming sound of Wanda's laughter, until the concept finally hit him as he realised what she meant, "Oh, yeah. I'm back... I almost forgot that happened. But it's true! I asked Timmy to wish for me to finally go back to normal."

"As normal as you can get, anyway." Anti-Cosmo commented bitterly from the sidelines.

Suddenly, Anti-Wanda's slow mind finally caught up with her as the reality of the situation finally came clear to her, and she stared at Anti-Cosmo with shock in her widened eyes and her mouth hung open as if she didn't know exactly what to say,

"You... you just insulted Cosmo! That means... you're back to normal too! And you can insult Cosmo just like you always used to!" Anti-Wanda shouted enthusiastically as she could barely contain her excitement, and she suddenly grabbed a hold of Anti-Cosmo's arm to capture him in a tight embrace. And as she cheerfully giggled beside him, Anti-Cosmo couldn't help but smile and laugh alongside her. He was so overwhelmed by the comfort of having his wife hanging on to him once again, that he paid absolutely no mind to Cosmo staring daggers at them both from afar. Cosmo retaliated sarcastically,

"Cool. You can insult me again... good for you."

Cosmo was interrupted when Wanda shakily pushed herself up from the ground, and wavered towards him as she tried her best to balance back on her two feet. Cosmo managed to catch her just in time before she could trip over her two feet, and smiled with gratitude as she loosely held on to his forearms. But she didn't let go. Instead, Wanda gazed back at Cosmo with curious eyes, and softly asked him,

"Why did you return to normal, sweetie?" With a comforting hand, she gently ran her fingers through tufts of Cosmo's unkempt hair that stuck out of place, and looked at him worriedly before continuing, "You were so torn about yourself, I honestly didn't know what to do with you... what made up your mind to go back to how you used to be?"

Cosmo's gentle half-smile returned as he was simply happy to have Wanda safe in his arms. He leant closer to her until he we close enough to notice the light flush of redness appear over her face, and told her with absolute confidence,

"I remembered something from a long time ago."

Wanda stared at him in confusion.

But before she could ask what he meant by that, the ground suddenly began to shake beneath their feet. It was a small tremor at first, until it grew into a frightening thunder of electrifying current directly under them. And as the cloudy sky above them suddenly darkened into a pool of storm clouds, a sudden burst of lightening struck against the hillside at a terrifying speed and almost knocked the entire group off their feet. But as their balances were regained, they peered through the sudden mist of smoke that arose from the ground until they could finally make out the large figure of a familiar militant fairy.

"Jorgen!" Timmy shouted in surprise, and had quickly reminded everyone that the anti-fairies were still on the run from him.

Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda quickly shot each other panicked looks before stepping aside in an attempt to sneak away, but Jorgen was on top of things as he quickly appeared in front of them and slammed his monumentally giant wand on the ground to knock them off their feet. As they simultaneously fell backwards against the hillside, they helplessly looked back up to Jorgen and swallowed a hard gulp as they awaited their punishment.

"Fairies. Anti-Fairies." Jorgen began as his loud voice boomed across the hillside, "I saw what went down at that maniacal teacher's lair. I saw everything."

"What?" Timmy asked incredulously as he dared to raise an eyebrow at him and march towards the terrifying fairy with his arms crossed against his chest, "How could you have possibly seen everything? We were practically underneath the Earth!"

"For starters, I wasn't even in the area when I first saw you, Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo flying in the skies towards the dumping grounds. I was in the outer perimeter when I noticed something like a rainbow stretch through the air with the three of you attached to the end of it. Neither of you were exactly discrete about that."

"Oh... yeah, that..." Timmy said quietly as he backed off and shrunk into himself once he realised the obvious mistake they made, and then rubbed his arm anxiously as he wondered why the concept of getting caught by other humans never crossed his mind.

"You're extremely lucky that no one caught on to it." Jorgen told them monotonously before he slowly began to approach them, and finally leant down so that his large elongated face was faced squarely in everyone's direction. His voice was stern, and his tanned skin emanated a boiling heat as his fury was beginning to rise, "Unfortunately for you, that stunt of yours had almost put the existence of fairies at a very real risk, and there are severe punishments for people who dare to attempt such a feat."

Everyone had simultaneously swallowed an incredibly hard gulp as their eyes were too afraid to even glance away from Jorgen's hardened stare. However, they looked up at him in surprise as Jorgen finally backed off and the healthy tanned glow returned to his face. And even more surprisingly, he calmly continued,

"However, you have successfully evaded a potential threat that could have befallen this world, and for that, I must thank you all for your heroic efforts."

At the same time, the entire group let out a hefty sigh all at once as they realised they were finally in the clear. Then, Jorgen turned his hardened gaze at Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda, and they flinched in terror as if he had cemented them to the ground by his stare alone.

"Anti-fairies." He began with an intimidating glare, before an unexpected wide smile broke across his face, "Because of your noble involvement in preventing the end of the universe, I will officially relieve your status as wanted criminals. This shall be effective... immediately."

Suddenly, the anti-fairies had to withhold their gasps as they were almost overblown by Jorgen's decision. Then Anti-Cosmo looked curiously over at his wife, and Anti-Wanda smiled in return as their relief gradually sank in. After everything they had to endure over the past two days, after the fights and the bruises and the arguments and the tears, they finally realised that they were simply happy enough to be reunited with each other once again. But Jorgen interrupted their short celebration,

"However, that doesn't excuse your criminal acts before this date, so the house arrest rules still stand. And as your probation officer, you both have to come with me. I will escort you back to your home."

Everyone had expected the anti-fairies to kick up a storm and go kicking and screaming against him, but Anti-Cosmo surprisingly turned back to Jorgen with a dismissive wave of his hand, a half-hearted smirk, and a shrug as he lamented,

"You know what? I think that's for the best. Today has put me off the idea of total domination for a while, especially after seeing how that crazed teacher turned out. I don't want to see myself going down that road. Hit me if I ever do." Anti-Cosmo thumped his fist to his chest as he confidently told them with fatigue, "My days of plotting and scheming are over and done with for now. So I'm actually putting my world conquest plans on hiatus for the time being... and who knows, maybe they'll be shelved indefinitely."

The ground almost crumbled as Jorgen suddenly roared into a fit of laughter, dropped his heavy wand to the ground and grabbed a hold of his sides in an attempt to withhold himself. But as his laughter gradually calmed down, and as he wiped the tears squeezing through the corner of his eyes, Jorgen looked pessimistic with an eyebrow arched to the skies,

"Do you honestly believe I'm that naïve?" Jorgen asked Anti-Cosmo incredulously with a shake of his head, "I don't buy that for a second."

Anti-Cosmo smirked a sly smile as he glanced quickly at his wife, and they shared a look of pure nefarious evil before he glanced back at Jorgen with a defeated sigh,

"I guess you really aren't as dumb as you look."

…

FINAL ACT: The Moment Of Truth, Part II

…

**AN:** We're almost at the end, just one more chapter to go! Please stick around for the conclusion of I'm Ready, Break Down The Barriers coming soon! Thank you so much for reading, as always!


	15. Final Act, Part II

…

_Final Act: _How Far We've Come, Part II

…

Lingering inside the mouth of the anti-fairies' castle entrance, the group stood beside their respective spouses as the little boy in the pink cap patiently waited on the far side of the arched bridge. He cautiously peered around the anti-fairy world, and tried to ignore the intimidating setting that surrounded him. Everywhere he looked, he came across broken glass implemented into the ground and barbed wire on the borders of the cloudy plains. And when he idly let his curious gaze wander to the swirling red and black clouds in the sky, he gulped as he compared the sight to looking inside an active volcano.

Meanwhile, Jorgen Von Strangle waited nearby as he guarded the scene, and kept within earshot of the criminal anti-fairies. He was still on edge as his glance would every so often wander to Anti-Cosmo. He dealt with him too many times to underestimate his calculating mind. So, he patiently waited for them to make their goodbyes, and kept his wits about him.

Then Jorgen gripped tightly on to his wand as Anti-Cosmo removed himself from his wife's side to heavily step towards Cosmo. And Timmy glared at him from the side-lines as he watched Anti-Cosmo square up against Cosmo, until Cosmo was practically bending backwards beneath his terrifying gaze.

Anti-Cosmo breathed heavily, as if he had to withdraw his anger, before he snarled at his counterpart,

"Cosmo, I say this in the most sincere of ways possible... but you are undeniably, without question, the most idiotic, irresponsible, insanely irrational, ignorant _boob_ that I have ever had the misfortune to be connected with. My God, I've met smarter _gorillas_ than you! You make after cases of lobotomies look like standard vacations!"

Cosmo gulped harshly as he squeezed his eyes shut, and awaited Anti-Cosmo's unrelenting wrath. However, after a few moments of totally unusual silence, he bravely reopened his eyes to see that Anti-Cosmo had stepped back to calmly adjust his monocle. Then, Cosmo watched in complete surprise as an unexpected smirk broke out across Anti-Cosmo's face as he continued in a sudden low-key tone,

"That being said... as much as it pains me to admit this, I can't really deny the fact that this whole ordeal wasn't a _complete_ nightmare. I dare say that there were a few moments when I actually had fun. Despite the roller-coaster of emotions, it was sort of like an adventure in some ways. Although I wouldn't ride through it all again."

An uncontrollable smile pulled on Cosmo's lips as an enormous wave of relief washed over him. He was incredibly grateful that he hadn't completely messed anyone up, even if that someone was his worst enemy. And Anti-Cosmo could tell that this meant a lot to him the second Cosmo grinned his usual carefree and goofy grin. So Anti-Cosmo shook his head as he continued,

"Cosmo, it's been a... _interesting_ experience to see things from your perspective. In fact, it was quite literally a huge weight off of my mind for a little while. And it's actually made me realise a few things. You know, being a largely influential icon of my society can put a substantial strain on my inner workings, and I see now that constantly being involved in my work is taking a toll on Anti-Wanda and I. So, I've been thinking it over... and I wouldn't mind actually considering a vacation from work. Then, who knows, maybe during this time I'll finally step down from my title as supreme ruler..."

"Yeah, you can stop right there, Anti-Cosmo!" Jorgen yelled to him from afar, _"You're_ willing to step down? Spare us the dramatics, I'm still not buying it!"

Anti-Cosmo rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue, and Anti-Wanda laughed softly by his side.

"Damn. I honestly thought he'd fall for that a second time round." Anti-Cosmo said with a half-smile as he glanced over at his wife with a half-hearted shrug, "I guess we should stop underestimating him so much now."

"We'll get him next time." Anti-Wanda replied as she flashed her misshapen teeth into an adorable grin for encouragement, and Anti-Cosmo felt as if he had to momentarily restart his skipping heartbeat. Then, he turned back to Cosmo with a serious, but also with a surprisingly genuine smile,

"I wasn't joking about most of it, though. I really did have a life-changing experience. Thanks, Cosmo. What you did was definitely a smart choice. It may have been just what I needed. Not just for me, but for all of us."

Cosmo couldn't believe his words. To actually hear Anti-Cosmo admit something like that to his arch rival was an extraordinary feeling. He was simply elated, and he breathed out heavily as a large weight off his heart was gradually lifted.

Then his head tilted slightly in thought as he briefly reflected on his own personal experience, before he finally stepped forward and to slap his hand against Anti-Cosmo's shoulder.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Anti-Cosmo." Cosmo casually said as his friendly vice-like grip rested on his shoulder, "I have to admit too, being smart was awesome for a while. I knew so many interesting things, I could see everything so much more clearly... man, it was like my mind expanded to whole new places as everything opened up around me, and it all finally made sense! It was truly amazing. But, I guess as most things do, it just wore thin like a novelty. Intelligence just didn't work for me."

Anti-Cosmo laughed as he shrugged Cosmo's hand away from him, and crossed his arms as he arched an amused eyebrow to him.

"You're the only person I know who can make an intelligent mind seem like a passing trend. You'll try it out, but ultimately you'll just end up getting sick of it. This just further proves that you're truly destined for a idiocy." Anti-Cosmo shook his head in disbelief, whilst Cosmo only stared back in mystified wonder. Then a sudden thought struck at Anti-Cosmo as he squinted rather suspiciously at his mossy-haired counterpart, "You know, I'd like to know the reason why you changed your mind in the end. What really provoked you to make the final decision?"

Cosmo's eyes widened as his head had unexpectedly flourished into a deep shade of red. And when Anti-Cosmo spied Cosmo's quick sideways glance at Wanda, who had been smiling sweetly to him from the side-lines, and as Cosmo's bashful grin widened from the sight, Anti-Cosmo gave him an all-knowing smirk before finally nodding his head in understanding,

"Ah, I see. I suppose that explanation is better left for the better half."

Wanda suddenly slid her arm around Cosmo's as she gently pulled him towards her, and his face deepened into a bright red blush as he bashfully rubbed the back of his head with a very wide smile.

"Yeah... I'll do that." He breathed out as he was completely overcome with happiness.

Anti-Cosmo rested his hands on his hips as he eyes softened on Wanda. Her face was emanating complete and total joy as she hung so lovingly against Cosmo's arm, and it was an amazing turn around after all the time Anti-Cosmo spent with her. He was glad to see her happy once again as that special connection he had with her remained. They were the only ones that could understand why they could openly love their short-minded partners to such a degree. And Anti-Cosmo smiled in relief as he could see her high spirits finally brought out.

"You'd best be good to this one, Cosmo. She's a good woman."

"As if you have to tell me!" Cosmo said incredulously as he pulled her closer to him, and Wanda happily fell against him.

"I mean it, you know." Anti-Cosmo replied as he turned to address her, and Wanda's eyes widened in surprise as his voice softened to tell her sincerely, "Wanda, I hope you know that I will forever value your continuous support throughout this whole... adventure. I respect you so much more for willingly listening to everything I said through my idiocy. I understand that I was a lot to put up with, especially as I had previously been a villain to you before all this, so it means a lot to me that you put your judgements aside to take care of me. So thanks to you as well, Wanda. You're a hero in my eyes."

Wanda's heart lifted in her chest as she felt completely thankful for his words. To her, it made up for all the arguments they shared, all the unfortunate mishaps they had landed in together, and she couldn't be more gratified. Anti-Cosmo continued to address Wanda even as he turned to his wife,

"Without your help, I wouldn't have been able to figure out that you can translate anything you feel about the person you love in your own way. And that, ultimately, intelligence is completely irrelevant. As long as the message gets across... it'll be alright in the end."

Suddenly, Anti-Wanda dared to lean across to him and quickly land a soft and lingering kiss against his cheekbone. Anti-Cosmo's face heated up instantly, but his immeasurable happiness widened his smile as he gazed at her with all the love in his eyes. Then she laughed as she squeezed his arm,

"You're right," Anti-Wanda chimed with a toothy grin, "No matter how much a person changes, it'll be alright. Because how you ultimately feel for someone can remain the same."

Their gazes couldn't be ripped apart from each other then as Anti-Cosmo couldn't get over the overwhelming feeling of having his wife back by his side as she hung loosely to his clothes. She once again dared herself to lean closer to him, and her breath hitched in her throat as she clung on to him, until she was almost hugging him closely with his hands lightly placed on her waist. She wanted to fall into him and never let go of him again, and he felt completely the same.

Meanwhile, the moment was shared between Cosmo and Wanda as they grinned with utter happiness towards each other. Wanda had tightly embraced Cosmo's arm until one of her hands slowly slid down his forearm to lace her slender fingers through his. She clasped his palm against his, and the warmth of his hand was simply breath-taking. They had definitely felt as if the message was firmly put across that they truly needed each other. And as they felt as if the world around them had melted away into nothingness, they knew deep in their hearts that they belonged to no one else but them.

However, the outside world had to interrupt them once more as Timmy had stepped into the scene,

"C'mon guys, you both look like you're ready to pass out. You haven't slept in two days, right? Let's get you to bed. You can talk everything over tomorrow." His godparents looked over their shoulders to their godchild as their hands remained together, and noticed how Timmy's foot was also impatiently tapping against the floor, "Okay, and I'm bored too! Can you blame me?! I'm just a kid, my attention span is very short!"

"Alright Timmy, we're just wrapping things up now anyway." Wanda reassured him with a giggle.

And then, Wanda's attention was turned towards Anti-Wanda as she had suddenly reached out and tapped Wanda's arm. She stared at her in slight surprise as she noticed the wary expression painted across Anti-Wanda's face, until she spoke up in a serious tone,

"I hope you keep in mind everything that I told you," Anti-Wanda warned her as her eyes gradually drifted towards Cosmo, "Your husband is a good guy too, despite what my husband might say about him. Even so, there will always be something significant beneath the surface. Look and listen to him, tell him that it's alright to accept his imperfections. It'll go a long way."

Cosmo grinned as he squeezed Wanda's hand beneath his fingers, and passed a glance from his wife to Anti-Wanda. And just as Anti-Cosmo had felt grateful for Wanda's assistance, Cosmo felt exactly the same amount of gratitude for Anti-Wanda's patience with him. And for a brief moment, the two shared a silent moment as they related as the simple-minded halves of their greater spouses. Then Wanda nodded as she brought back Anti-Wanda's attention,

"I'll do my best. Thanks for the advice." And suddenly, Wanda grinned mischievously to her, "They certainly don't call you the wise old crone for nothing!"

Anti-Wanda's mouth dropped open in total dismay, and quickly averted her bewildered gaze to Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo, who had only laughed in return. They laughed harder as her shock had quickly changed to a childish pout of discontent, until she could no longer find the will to be annoyed, and finally gave in as she laughed alongside them. After a few moments of simply letting loose into an echo chamber of hysteria, their laughter fits finally died down when Anti-Wanda crossed her arms and shook her head at her counterpart,

"I hope you realise you're never getting any advice from me ever again."

Wanda only smiled in reply, as she completely expected that.

However, it was unexpected of Anti-Cosmo to suddenly hold out his hand towards Cosmo. He let his palm hover there as Anti-Cosmo's signature smirk was met with a totally bewildered look from Cosmo. Then, as Anti-Cosmo's hardened stare looked directly ahead at his counterpart, he said with genuine sincerity,

"Until next time, Cosmo... when the universe is mine."

As Wanda finally slid away from him, Cosmo wasted no time to stare back at him with a stone face, until he took a firm hold of Anti-Cosmo's hand into a tight handshake. He replied with a sudden brazen grin as he firmly shook his hand,

"I wouldn't count on it. I don't need to be smart to stop you."

Anti-Cosmo almost snorted, and his grip on Cosmo's hand tightened as he scoffed in reply,

"That just proves how dumb you really are, Cosmo." He said with a condescending laugh as his smirk grew all the more sinister, "Your chances of getting the better of me are just as likely as you winning a game of something like, oh, I don't know... a game of _chess."_

Cosmo quickly felt a stab of irritation pierce through his chest as his thumb was practically digging into Anti-Cosmo's skin, and Anti-Cosmo had simultaneously clasped his hand just as fiercely around Cosmo's fingers until they were both crushing the bones in their palms beneath their strength, fuelled entirely by their irritation. It was as if the current in the air around them was sizzling with electric as they faced off against each other, and they had both remembered just why they were considered enemies in the first place.

And as their respective wives had recognised their furious scowls and menacing glares, the girls grabbed their husbands and instantly broke them away from each other.

"Hey, hey, c'mon guys," Wanda laughed nervously as she gently pulled Cosmo's hand apart from Anti-Cosmo's, "Let's save this until the next inevitable fight, okay?"

The moment Anti-Cosmo's angered eyes was captured by Anti-Wanda's loving gaze, his anger almost immediately disappeared, and he was completely distracted by her. And in total appreciation of her, Anti-Cosmo put his arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her against him, to which she landed a hand softly against his chest. She smiled happily when she could feel how fast-paced his heartbeat had tapped against her palm.

Meanwhile, Timmy had captured his godparent's attention once again, and shouted excitedly aloud,

"I wish we were back at my place!"

"You got it, Timmy!" Cosmo happily chimed as he lifted his wand up alongside Wanda.

Once their wands had begun to shine a brilliant array of golden lights, Timmy and his godparents were slowly becoming engulfed in a cloud of smoke from the soles of their feet until it gradually moved up and enveloped their figures. But before their faces could be covered, Anti-Cosmo held his wife close as he called up to the fairies, who had glanced back to them one final time,

"It's been fun. But let's not do this again."

Cosmo laughed whole-heartedly, then held up his reddened hand that had throbbed from the intense pressure of their handshake, then finally waved before he disappeared entirely in the smoke, and left Anti-Cosmo with these parting words,

"I completely agree... old friend."

And in a blink of an eye, Timmy alongside his godparents had finally dissipated along with the fog that had quickly faded into the air.

A haunting silence soon followed after as the anti-fairies had been left to themselves, along with a distant Jorgen Von Strangle who insisted on hanging around until they returned inside their castle. But the silence was soon shattered as Anti-Wanda clicked her tongue in annoyance, and pouted in a childish manner once more. Anti-Cosmo quickly picked this up, and he turned to her with intrigue,

"What's the problem, love?"

"Cosmo... he promised me a pizza..."

For a moment, he couldn't believe his ears. Until suddenly, Anti-Cosmo burst into a roaring laughter as he covered his eyes that had begun to water with hysterical tears. Anti-Wanda's eyes shot wide open in shock as she once again failed to see what was so funny. And as Anti-Cosmo saw just how puzzled she looked, he quickly wiped away the last remaining tear and grinned to her. He had no idea how amazing it would be to finally be back by his wife's side after everything that has happened. It was honestly like returning back home after a long time away.

"Don't worry, dear. I'll grab a pizza straight from the best restaurant in the heart of Rome."

"You will?"

Anti-Cosmo gulped hard as he watched his wife's face light up with absolute excitement, as if her shining eyes had shot directly through to his heart.

"Of course I will. You know this. If you ask me for anything, and I mean anything at all, I will without a doubt give it to you."

Anti-Wanda responded with a genuinely sweet and grateful smile that once again sent Anti-Cosmo's heartbeat into overdrive, until he felt he had to grip on to his chest as if he had to physically calm himself down.

As they wandered inside the confines of their home, Anti-Cosmo painfully had to take his arm away from her shoulders to close the front gates of his castle. He peered through the crack of the door as he watched Jorgen finally walk away to leave them to it, and the reality of the situation at last fell upon Anti-Cosmo's head. He was back home with his wife, safe and sound with no authorities chasing after them, with no one around to interrupt them, and his intelligence had also finally returned...

Anti-Wanda wandered to the middle of the hallway and peered around her castle. She inhaled the scent of brimstone and the slight traces of metallic stench in the air, and knew in an instant that she was incredibly happy to be home at last. The hallway was dark, with only faint traces of red-tinted daylight spilling through the cracks of the brick walls. Anti-Wanda was drenched in the darkened atmosphere of blood red and navy blue colour schemes illuminating her skin. And the most prominent incandescent colour that shone above all others was the glistening rose that blazed in her eyes.

Anti-Cosmo couldn't breathe at the sight of her.

"I don't know about you, but I've done enough thinking for one lifetime." Anti-Wanda said as she turned her back to him and stretched her elongated arms to the skies. She yawned with fatigue as her loose fit shirt lifted with her arms. Her stomach and her back peeked from under the hem of her shirt, and her arms lingered in the air as she continued to stretch up and moan.

And suddenly, without any indication, Anti-Wanda's breath was immediately caught in her throat as she felt Anti-Cosmo step directly behind her. On instinct, she tucked her wings in as Anti-Cosmo took a gentle hold of her arms above her head. Slowly, he bent her right arm down, and rested his chin on her right shoulder as she let her hand fall back against the back of his head.

She held him soundlessly against her shoulder as Anti-Cosmo brought her other hand down towards her stomach, and gently slid his palm over her knuckles until his fingers lovingly laced through hers. And as her right hand threaded through Anti-Cosmo's unkempt hair and tipped his hat off his head, and as they completely ignored it fall to the ground, Anti-Cosmo almost desperately pulled and tipped her back.

Without any warning, Anti-Cosmo's lips quickly found Anti-Wanda's, and kissed her softly. The feeling of Anti-Cosmo's fangs pressing against the edges of her mouth was like a godsend, as if the indents that he had left there finally felt complete. As they closed their eyes, they could feel the intense heat that their bodies began to emanate, and the sound of their quickening heartbeats drummed in their ears.

Anti-Cosmo had no idea how much he wanted this after everything that had happened. He wanted to kiss her at every moment. He wanted to touch her and feel her skin against his fingertips. He wanted her hands to run through his hair, he wanted her arms to wrap around him and claim him, he wanted her and no one else in the world. He couldn't think of anyone or anything when he was around her. His intelligence played no part in this as Anti-Wanda reduced him to utter stupidity when he was stolen by her kiss. The only thing that mattered, and the only thing that existed to him at that moment was Anti-Wanda, and Anti-Wanda alone.

She pulled back for a second to groggily lift her heavy eyes and take a breath, but Anti-Cosmo wasn't finished.

Hastily, he captured her lips once again, and Anti-Wanda gripped a tight hold of his hair in response as she felt as if she couldn't handle anymore. Her heart was running for miles, and her mind had completely clouded over. She was so overwhelmed by his desperation, and so utterly surprised by how much she was wanted by him at that moment that she tightly grabbed and tugged him to urge Anti-Cosmo to hold her closer.

Anti-Wanda wanted to feel wanted. After the day she had, it felt as if it had all been mere distractions to keep her away from him. She knew then that she saw Anti-Cosmo so much in Cosmo because she only longed to feel her husband against her once again. Anti-Wanda wanted to return to that paradise in his arms. She wanted to feel his, and his alone. And the way he had grabbed her so tenderly, and so severely as if he couldn't stand being an inch away from her, Anti-Wanda asked herself over and over...

_Why... why did I ever leave you?_

Time no longer became a factor as Anti-Cosmo moved his lips softly and slowly over hers, minutes dissipated to nothingness as Anti-Cosmo captured Anti-Wanda's bottom lip between his, seconds faded into the air as Anti-Cosmo's kiss lightly brushed over her chin and trailed down the nape of her neck to the base of her shoulder. The ground melted further into darkness as Anti-Wanda leant back and her curled hair fell down her back like springs. The reddened sky shone against her ocean skin as Anti-Cosmo praised it with a deepened kiss. The air around them grew hotter as Anti-Wanda slowly breathed in her final breath when Anti-Cosmo gently captured her neck between his teeth.

Anti-Wanda let out a pleasant sigh when his fangs lightly pinched at her skin, and she carelessly breathed out the words,

"I love you..."

After he heard this, Anti-Cosmo's hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He leant back and glanced at her through his tired eyes, and swallowed hard at the sight of her once again. Her wild hair had stuck to her perspiration around her face, and her breath was uneven as if she had just ran for miles. With her heavy-lidded eyes staring right back at him, and with her bed-ridden hair standing up in chaotic curls, he would have mistaken her as just woken up, or recovering from a night of...

"Um, can I... ask you a favour, Anti-Cosmo?" She quietly asked him as she shyly glanced away for a moment to tuck a latent strand of hair behind her ear.

"Y-yes, of course you can," He stammered as if his train of thought was only just returning to him, "What is it?"

"Can we take this to the, um, to the sofa?"

Anti-Cosmo's eyes almost shot wide open as he realised exactly what she had meant. And his heart immediately hiked up to his throat the instant the lights switched on in his mind.

Without any sort of warning whatsoever, Anti-Cosmo suddenly glided his hand over her shoulders and under her legs, and she squealed in surprise as he quickly lifted her up into the bridal style way of carrying her. And as if harsh wind had all of a sudden hit both of their faces, Anti-Cosmo promptly raced down the hallways of his castle towards his studio where his sofa was waiting.

_The sofa... the very place we sat before this entire ordeal fell upon us..._

Then, the instant the anti-fairies had arrived inside the studio, the darkened lighting had coincidentally shadowed everything in the room into deep darkness, whereas the sofa had been drenched in red-tinted daylight that spilt through the misshapen cracks in the walls.

Anti-Wanda immediately leapt out of his arms and skated on air towards it. Anti-Cosmo crossed his arms as he watched her from the side-lines, and smiled contently as she whole-heartedly laughed the moment she fell against the pillows. She was completely in her own world as she lay across the sofa, and giggled as she dragged her messy hair out of her face until it created a small pool around her face and against the plains of red-tinted pillows. Then, as she turned to face her smiling husband beside her, she slowly lifted herself up by one arm as she tilted her head, and her curled hair spilt over the side of her shoulder like a wildly rapid current of water. Anti-Cosmo, once again, had to restart his heart.

_Oh God... she's so beautiful..._

Anti-Cosmo fell on the sofa beside her, and leant against the pillows as his arms spread across the back. Anti-Wanda wasted no time to shuffle towards him. She stretched her legs over his lap and rested her fatigued head against his shoulder. Lovingly, she nuzzled close under his chin as she wrapped her arms around his torso, and he pulled her closer as he slid his arm over her shoulders.

And suddenly, it had occurred to Anti-Cosmo that they retained the same position they were in before their adventure had started.

"Anti-Wanda," He began as he gathered up his nerves to ask her, "Are you... still happy here?"

Without a second thought, Anti-Wanda nodded her head with a bright smile lighting up her expression.

"Yes."

Anti-Cosmo swallowed hard.

"Even if I'm too occupied with work, and even if I don't always show you the attention that you deserve? You're still happy enough to be by my side?"

Anti-Wanda turned her attention to the darkness as she pursed her lips in deep thought. It was a painstaking few minutes that seemed to have dragged on for hours in Anti-Cosmo's mind, but as Anti-Wanda finally came to a decision, her toothy smile broke out on her face once more.

"Anti-Cosmo… I understand that your work needs a lot of time to focus on. The true importance of the end result that you've always so tirelessly aimed for is something I'll never comprehend until it happens... but I've always put up with it because I know just how much it all means to you. The truth is, I would _never_ come between you and your dreams. If anything, I want to do the best that I can possibly do to help you achieve these dreams. Then, all those days and nights apart that you spent relentlessly on your work will amount to something in the end. I know it will. And... do you want to know why I truly believe that it will all be worth it?"

Anti-Cosmo was on the edge of his seat as his face drew closer to hers.

"Why?"

"Because… the day you said that you loved me, you also told me that you wanted to share your title with me. That's why the end result will be worth it. We'll rule the world together. And when I sat down to think about it, everything just came together so perfectly. It all seems so... ideal." Anti-Wanda breathed out a contented sigh as she reminisced with her heart blaring like a drum solo in her ears, and continued as her voice became softer,

"Do you remember that day? Before we started dating, I only knew you as a loner who claimed to one day rule the entire galaxy all by yourself. You wouldn't let anyone challenge you, you wouldn't let anyone overthrow you, it seemed completely impossible to even get _near_ you. It was as if you were an unstoppable force of nature that no one could slow down. Then, one day... you said to me... _me,_ of all people... that you would give me the entire universe on a platter... you would give me _everything_..."

Anti-Wanda had to wipe away her teary eyes as her voice suddenly began to trail away. Gently, Anti-Cosmo lifted his thumb to her soaked skin, and slowly wiped them away. However, the memory kept cruelly tugging on Anti-Wanda's heartstrings as the tears almost became uncontrollable, and her breath hitched into quiet sobs as Anti-Cosmo slowly leant forward, and very softly kissed them away. He held her chin in his hand to gently tip her head to the side as his lips trailed down her cheekbone, and begged her under his breath to stop crying.

"I... I can't..." She whispered as she sniffed and pressed her lips together to stop herself from frowning, "You are... so amazing. You would give up everything... just to give me... literally _everything! _How can you pass up your dreams so easily for someone like me? How could you be so... so damn foolish to throw everything away! You... you idiot!"

"I wouldn't throw everything away," Anti-Cosmo quietly replied as his lips softly brushed against the corner of her eye, and he slowly shaped his words over her skin, "I'm giving you everything. When I'm reigning supreme over the universe, you will be right there to claim anything you want. Everything that I have will be yours. I'm selfishly giving you everything so that I can have you. So, Anti-Wanda, let me have you now... you're all I want... I want you..."

"You already do..." Anti-Wanda sighed against him as she softly laid her palm over his, and brought his hand to her hair. As he buried his fingers through the wild array of curls that spilt over her shoulders, Anti-Wanda gazed to him with so much love in her eyes for him, "...you really want to give me anything?"

"Yes..." Anti-Cosmo breathed out as he completely lost himself in her, and worshipped her skin with kiss after kiss along her jawbone.

"Anything..." Anti-Wanda whispered as she resisted the urge to get lost along with him, _"Anything_ I want... and you will definitely give it to me?"

"Yes... anything..."

Anti-Wanda suddenly brought her hands up to place them gently against the sides of Anti-Cosmo's face, grasped his drunken gaze to her, and spoke as if there was barely any breath left within her,

"Give me tonight." Her full lips slowly shaped the words that she whispered, "Forget the work we have to do, forget that the last few days happened, forget that the world even exists... just give me the night. Show me that you want me, show me that you need me. Show me that you will give me everything that you have, show me exactly how much you're willing to give up just to have me… show me you love me. Show me _everything_ you have! Just for one night... _be with me."_

The silence that followed had dragged on for too long as Anti-Cosmo simply gazed down upon her. There wasn't a sound in the entire universe as the heavy impact of Anti-Wanda's words slowly rained down upon Anti-Cosmo's senses. His clever mind, as intelligent as it was, wasn't nearly enough to truly realise... to truly grasp how much of a monumental impact Anti-Wanda's words had made on him. His heartbeat stopped completely. His mind drew a blank. All that he knew, all that he could manage, was to recognise the love in his wife's eyes for him. And him only.

The silence that followed had soon been shattered as Anti-Cosmo finally replied,

"...should we forget about that pizza as well?"

Anti-Wanda was so caught off guard by this comment that she suddenly snorted out loud with laughter. Then, as Anti-Cosmo slowly realised how stupid that statement had really been, he laughed just as loud as he collapsed against her in an absolute state of hysteria. It took a few minutes to fully let the giggles and the tears out, but as they simultaneously finished, as their sodden faces had dried and the love had promptly returned in their eyes, Anti-Wanda flashed a toothy grin and leant her hands over his shoulders, and moved forward until she was only a few inches away from his lips,

"Yes, forget about the pizza. Now will you please just kiss me already?"

He grinned as he resisted the incredibly strong urge to laugh again. And as he took another long lasting look at her to see the clear happiness emanating from her beautiful smile, Anti-Cosmo gladly obliged.

…

…

...

The sun was slowly setting on the horizon to finally bring the events of the day to a close, and the warm breeze in the air was more than welcome to stay for the evening. Timmy, along with AJ and Chester, were busy running around the front lawn of Timmy's home to soak up the last of the sun's rays before it hid away and it was time to call it a night. The fatigue that burdened the fairies had refused to slow down Timmy's boundless energy. So, as Timmy had thrown himself over the grassy plains, Cosmo and Wanda spectated from his bedroom window pane.

Wanda rested her chin into her palm as she propped herself up by her elbow, and happily sighed as she found herself to be so fortunate at that moment. Timmy was safe at home again, she had escaped from the clutches of a madman, and Cosmo had finally returned to normal.

At least, that's what she assumed.

Cosmo glanced to his wife. The gentle wind that brushed through her rose-coloured curls left strands of hair smoothing over her sun-kissed skin. Her soft smile had deepened the laugh lines at the edges of her mouth as evidence that she had finally threw away her worries for the day. All she could do, all she wanted to do, was relax and feel thankful that her family was back with her.

However, when she felt Cosmo's piercing gaze on her, she curiously turned his way. Then, Wanda could finally see the indents wrinkling around his bloodshot eyes and tired lids. He leant his heavy head against the window frame and smiled weakly in reply. But he couldn't fool his wife as she shook her head, and lightly touched her fingertips across his pale cheekbone,

"I think it's time we get some sleep."

"I guess so." Cosmo shrugged slowly, as if it was too much of an effort to lift himself from the ground. "Shame, though. Timmy gave us the day off to get some rest, but how often do our god-kids let us have the day to ourselves?"

"Not often enough, I suppose," she sighed as she agreed, "Although, it's not often that we stay awake for this long either. If only we had as much energy as Timmy. We must be showing our age at last."

They smiled to each other as they didn't have the strength anymore to laugh. Their bodies felt unusually heavy as they lifted their wands as if they were dumbbells, then they watched as their wands shone a brilliant light, and suddenly transported themselves into their castle confined inside Timmy's fish bowl.

Once inside the foyer of their castle, Wanda lit the room with a flick of her wand, until the wall-mounted candlesticks had simultaneously ignited themselves. The flames were small, which made the foyer seem like the dimly lit interior of Dracula's castle. However, as the candles were powered by their magic, tiny multi-coloured sparks had shimmered like kaleidoscopic embers in the air, and made the atmosphere look insanely mystical.

Wanda was the first to climb the stairs towards the second floor as Cosmo had lingered behind, and remained silent in thought for a moment. His expression was contorted with conflict as his hands clenched into fists at his sides. And after a few short moments of internal debate, Cosmo suddenly called out,

"Wanda… wait!"

Wanda froze as her fingers lingered on the railings. As she turned over her shoulder, she blinked in surprise to find Cosmo staring back with determination glinting in his eyes. His mouth dropped open as he struggled to find his voice, until he finally stammered,

"Is th-there… s-something you want to ask me?"

Wanda hesitated as she couldn't mask her unease, and nervously bit at her lower lip in reluctance.

"Don't you want to wait until the morning?" She asked as she couldn't find the nerves to bring her gaze up to his, "I think we're in need of a very long rest before we can start… talking things out."

"To be honest, I don't think I'll be able to get much sleep if nothing ever gets to be said." Cosmo told her truthfully as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. Then, as his shaking fingers remained placed over his neck, and as his hopeless eyes glistened in sadness, his voice was barely a whisper when he pushed one more time, "Wanda… please?"

She immediately noted the desperation straining in his voice, and Wanda couldn't bare it. She finally met his forlorn gaze and bit her lip a second time. He looked so helpless and lost. He was far from the man she knew only 24 hours ago with overconfidence and an intelligent mind. He was much farther than the carefree and free-spirited idiot that she knew so well. Cosmo had stripped away the surface and bared his internal melancholy that had plagued him for so long. She was heartbroken as she couldn't take seeing him this way.

So, as she completely caved in to his request, Wanda slowly held out her hand for him to hold with a small encouraging smile.

Cautiously, Cosmo slid his fingers across her palm, and she lovingly encased his hand in hers. And as he stood on the same stair level as her, Wanda slowly sank to the floor to sit on the step. Cosmo followed close behind and sat beside her with his eyes stuck on hers in careful anticipation for what she was going to say. And she didn't disappoint as she finally sighed to gather her thoughts, and began softly,

"There is something that I've been meaning to ask you… well, maybe a couple things, but first I'd like to know something," Wanda paused to strike up her nerves before she brought her eyes up to his, and quietly asked, "Why did you return to normal?"

For a moment, Cosmo pressed his lips into a tight line before he could think of a coherent answer. Hesitantly, he worked up the faith that he would be able to say exactly the right thing, and took a short breath before replying,

"Do you remember what I told you earlier?"

"Yes, I think I do. You said that you remembered something from a long time ago." Wanda's eyebrows knitted together with worry, "Does that have something to do with it?"

"It does. More than you realise." Then, Cosmo gently squeezed Wanda's hand beneath his grasp as the warmth from her palm seemed to give him strength to continue. And with a slow sigh, Cosmo's eyes grew distant, "I remembered something important… a promise I made to you in the early days of knowing you. A promise we made together…"

And suddenly, Wanda knew in an instant which memory Cosmo was talking about. However, she didn't interject as Cosmo's mouth lingered open, as if he was waiting for the words to fall out. And when they did, his voice was barely audible.

"Man, I don't know why but… I remember everything from that day so vividly. I remember how scared I was of the future, of what was going to eventually happen to us, and if we'd one day just... fall apart. So why is a memory like that so crystal clear in my mind… when most other times I forget important things like tying my own shoe laces?"

Wanda quickly glanced to the side as her small smile suddenly became sombre.

"We remember the things we treasure the most." She told him quietly, "You must have really loved that memory of us if it's survived over ten thousand years."

Cosmo gazed to the softening lights glimmering by his side, and gave in to the urge to smile.

"Yeah… I do. I really do love that memory. That promise meant so much to us. It meant so much to me," Cosmo's voice slowly trailed away into a melancholy softness that twisted Wanda's heart, "I guess that's why it hurt a lot when you forgot about our promise. I thought that maybe… maybe it didn't mean as much to you as it did to me…"

"Oh, no… no, Cosmo." Wanda softly protested as she laid a gentle hand over his warm cheek, and brought his gaze back to her. Cosmo's eyes widened in utter surprise when he saw just how desperate Wanda had looked to him at that moment, "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I never want you think that way about me. That promise we made all those years ago mean just as much to me right now as it did to me then. I honestly believe that. I've always kept honest with you, I wouldn't hold a single thing back from you. Please, believe me when I tell you that honesty means the world to me..."

She paused for a moment as she hesitated on that note. It lingered heavily in the air as she felt guilty about how she kept so secretive about her true feelings for Cosmo's new intelligence. Wanda glanced away from her husband for a moment to avoid looking hopeless in front of him, and her voice cracked with shaky unease,

"So… I may have felt uncomfortable at the start of that wish you made… but it was in no way meant to say that I had loved you any less." Wanda swallowed before her desperation become more and more apparent in her shaken voice, "I want to embrace change with you, Cosmo. I want you to show me everything you have, everything you will become, and everything we will be together. We'll adapt like we always have. So I don't want you to think that I'll be repulsed by the changes we'll face… we're so much stronger than that…"

Cosmo took hold of Wanda's hand lingering against his face, and brought it down to gently lace his fingers through hers. He hadn't strayed his eyes from hers as he noticed Wanda's eyes glaze over. And as she quickly averted her eyes to glance at the mystical embers licking the air around them, she caught Cosmo's gaze once again with fear in her eyes,

"So will you show me your weaknesses, Cosmo? I know now that I haven't been fair to you. I haven't made you feel as if you can let down your guard around me… so I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere when you do. You're my other half, sweetie. Your pain is my pain. When you want to be sad, when you want to cry, when you feel that you can't face the world, I'll be right here with you. We'll face it all together… if you'll let me."

Cosmo's mouth was quivering into a happy smile as he fought the urge to cry, even as he finally felt like he could without being judged.

"I'll tell you everything, Wanda," he said as his voice gradually stretched into a sombre tone once again, "because I haven't been fair to you either. I've been holding back. For a while now, I've been holding back my insecurities… when all along I could have had you with me to help me through them. I knew I had you, I knew that you've been my crutch for such a long time… even so, I knew I had to figure out whether depending on you for so long would ultimately be good for the both of us."

As Cosmo finished on that indecisive note, Wanda felt a physical rip between them as he slipped his hand away from her fingers. She wanted so desperately to keep holding on to him, as if she was holding on to the relationship itself, but she froze in the engulfing fear that plagued her as she saw the empty void within Cosmo's distant eyes. Then, as he continued, his frightening monotonous voice bared no emotion,

"I might not be very smart anymore, but I can still recognise our problems. They're just so… _glaring!_ I can't believe I thought a total personality change would solve everything, as if fixing our problems would be that easy. So, I have to wonder," Cosmo stared vacantly at his hands as his gaze traced the winding creases in his palms, "With the way I am now, would I just wear you down eventually? If I carry on as if nothing has happened, would I truly be defined as a person if I relied on you for everything? And ultimately, would I really be person I can depend on? Or would I just be a useless extension of you…"

Wanda remained silent as she could almost feel her breathing become irregular with nerves. Then, as she took a large inhale in a futile attempt to calm down her fast-paced heartbeat, she could hear her dread creeping into her voice as she reluctantly asked,

"Does this mean… you've finally made up your mind?" Wanda's exhausted gaze strained to keep her eyes on his, "Do you want to… a-are you going to leave?"

The air grew cold as the flames from the candlesticks lightly crackled against the strong magical current lingering in the atmosphere. The silence between them painfully dragged on as the memories of the day's events flickered before their eyes like fragmented reminders that everything that had happened that day had finally led up to this decision. And the elongated pause nearly killed her.

Cosmo's intelligent mind had left him wavered around the truth that he is too dependent on his wife. They had both changed so much since they had first made their promise together over ten thousand years ago. They had grown, they had suffered, they had conquered… and everything they were up to now was evidence of a lifetime they had shared together.

So, was it all worth it? Was it for the better, or for the worse? Cosmo had to wonder about the latter,

_Has the events of these past two days been the trigger down a more turbulent road? If fate is a guide, has it shown me that life is in more favour of us going our separate ways? Should we really… will we have to…?_

And all the while, Wanda held the faint hope in her heart that he would give them another chance. She had to keep hoping, and wishing, and praying that Cosmo still held on to that hope as well. She wanted to share that hope they had over ten thousand years ago. She wanted to keep looking towards the future in optimistic faith that they were going to pull through it. Together, they would come out stronger. Together, they would face the entire world and take on all the difficulties and hardships. Together… she just wanted to be _together._ And so, Wanda had to reluctantly wonder…

…_is he going to leave me?_

…

…

…

"Wanda." He slowly replied, and she held on to her breath, and prayed one final time. "I… the truth is, Wanda… I… I _need_ you. You know? I can't even… I can barely even _begin_ to imagine what my life would be like without you. Yeah, I'm a person, I know I am, but I know now that I'm also something so much more. Everything that I am, everything that I've built up to in my life has been because of you. You're not just in my life… god, you _are_ my life. I need you so much that it hurts. It's just too painful to think that one day you might not be there with me. So… I refuse to let that happen."

Cosmo gently took a hold of Wanda's trembling shoulders, and his hardened stare had emanated so much desperation and devotion for her. And when Wanda recognised this, her lips parted to take an uneven intake of air in an attempt to bite back the tears. But Cosmo continued as his voice grew louder, and sincere, with his heart on his tongue,

"I've changed, Wanda, and although we've come to expect change to happen over the years, I know that I will change into a better person with you by my side! Because I'm simply not a person without you. There's just no me without you! I can't leave, Wanda, I just… I need you too much! I don't ever want to leave you. I could never… I couldn't…" Cosmo's trembling fingers shook all the more over her shoulders as he mentally scrapped everything he had prepared for her, and completely gave in to his overwhelming devotion to her, "Oh man, Wanda… I just love you… I love you so much. I love you so much it hurts… I love you…"

Wanda's uncontrollable tears fell down her face like rivers as she audibly sobbed in his hands. As Cosmo told her over and over again that he loved her, he had taken Wanda's warm and tearful face beneath his palms and cradled her head close to his. Cosmo wanted to lean closer and kiss her worries away, he wanted his actions to speak louder than his voice could ever get, but he wanted her to know so many times that he loved her. He wanted to say it until his voice faded away and he could no longer speak. He wanted her to feel loved. He wanted her.

_I just want you, Wanda…_

"Cosmo…" her voice cracked as her soft sobs had strained her throat with overflowing emotions, "Oh… god, Cosmo… I was… I was so scared… I was so s-scared that you were going to leave me. I don't… I don't know what I would've done if… if you had…"

"I'm so sorry," he assured her softly as he gently wiped away her fresh tears with his thumbs, and fought to keep his reciprocating tears from escaping, "I'm sorry for putting you through this. I know I've been selfish and cruel. I know. How could I ever… how could I ever _consider_ living in a life without you? You're such a huge part of me. And I don't care if fate or destiny or whatever kind of force is begging for us to separate… I _refuse_ to let that happen to us! I'd be insane to let you go. Wanda… oh man, you're all I've ever wanted. You're beautiful, compassionate… and kind… and so… so amazing... you're amazing. You're just… you're… you're _everything!"_

He couldn't keep it back anymore.

Suddenly, in a fleeting burst of passion, Cosmo threw himself forward and grasped a tight hold of her. He clasped his arms around her as if he was holding on to her life, and breathed out a sigh of relief to feel her fit so perfectly in his embrace. He buried his face into her curls – the curls that he loved to run his fingers through – and gritted his teeth as he trembled. Thoughts of Wanda disappearing from his life shook him to his very core, and he yielded as his uncontrollable tears overwhelmed his glazed eyes. As Wanda stiffened in shock within his tight hold, Cosmo shouted with intense passion,

"This is me showing you everything I have, Wanda!" Cosmo choked through his tears, "I don't need to have intelligence to know that you're the best thing that has ever happened to me! I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have met you, and to have married you! And to have you love me, too… my god, what incredibly smart thing did I do to get that to happen to me?! I… I'm not sure about a lot of things… I'm dumb, I'm _insanely_ dumb… but even so, I know… I just know that you're the one and only thing that I am completely sure about. And I'm so happy, Wanda… I'm so… so _damn_ happy that I have you… I have you… that's all that matters… I have you…"

Wanda clutched on to the back of Cosmo's clothes as she leant her chin against his shoulder, and cried into his neck. She didn't care how loud her sobs were, she didn't even think about how hard she shook within his grasp; Wanda only knew that she was so overwhelmed by Cosmo's words and his loving embrace holding her at that moment. There was nothing she wanted more than to have her husband safe in her arms. She wanted to sit on the stairwell and cry until her throat was raw. She wanted to hold on to Cosmo until she didn't have the strength to grasp on to him any longer. And she barely managed to find her remaining breath to cry out,

"I didn't know if you were going to… going to _leave_ me or not. You were so lost, and so aloof… you were a completely different person. So I just feared the worst. I thought… y-you didn't love me anymore… and I don't know if I could even bear the thought of that ever happening. So, I'm really happy! As long as I can always be with you, I know I'll always be happy. I love you too, Cosmo. More than you'll ever realise. I don't know how I could go on without you… I need you, so much… I need you too!"

For a long, long time, the two fairies sat on the stairwell and cried in each other's arms. The flames from the candlesticks lightly burned on as the sounds of their loud sobs filled the foyer. Their voices strained as their cries dragged on, as if they were withholding a lifetime of pain and they were finally letting it all out. Their fingers tightly clasped on to each other as if they couldn't allow the other to move away. Because the thought of separating was terrifying the both of them.

So, they held on. With the desperate need to keep the other by their side for as long as they could, they remained collapsed against each other until their cries began to fade.

Wanda wondered for a brief moment on how long time had passed, and how long they had sat together like that. Cosmo thought very quickly about how truly tired the both of them were, and how much longer they could keep each other awake.

As they moved away from each other slightly, and as their arms remained loosely around each other, they gently leant their foreheads together as they managed to look at each other through their watery reddened eyes. Cosmo almost grinned at the sight of his wife as he pushed back a few stray strands of pink curls caught in the corner of her lips. She sighed soundlessly as she welcomed the gratifying feeling of Cosmo's gentle fingertips smoothing lightly over her skin.

Cosmo noticed how Wanda had slowly closed her eyes, and her eyelashes glistened from fresh tears that had lingered behind. Her face had flourished into a crimson red as her lips parted, not to speak, but in anticipation for Cosmo's kiss.

Whenever they had endured a long winded fight, they knew this was how it would end. It would always end this way.

Hesitantly, Cosmo moved forward to tilt his head to the side, and caught her stray curls between his fingers as he cradled her face to tilt her the other way. And, slowly, he pressed his lips softly against hers, and carefully captured her bottom lip between his.

It had only been two days, and yet it felt like a thousand years ago when they had last kissed. And even so, over ten thousand years and Cosmo still couldn't believe the immense impact that Wanda had made upon his fast beating heart. She was still able to send him to euphoric levels until he could only recognise the satisfying touch of her lips against his. And as his eyes had closed and as the world around him disappeared into nothing, the only thing that mattered to him was his wife at his side, and the taste of her that lasted on his lips.

And Wanda felt the same now that she had her husband back in her arms. The final remaining tear had escaped from the corner of her eye. It glistened against the softened glow of the candlestick flames, and instinctively, even as their kiss had lingered on, Cosmo's fingers wiped it away as if he wanted her to know that he would get rid of all of her troubles. He wanted her to know that everything would be alright. Everything will be so much better from then on.

_So don't be sad anymore… I'm here… I won't let anything make you cry again._

On that note, they reluctantly broke apart, and they gazed to one another with their glazed eyes that had swollen from an overhaul of tears. Neither of them could bring themselves to fully break away just yet as Wanda's moistened lips had slowly broke into a whole-hearted smile. Once again, Cosmo's heartbeat hitched up to his throat as he was so overwhelmingly grateful that Wanda was smiling back at him once more. It was amazing, he found, that Wanda could still remain so beautiful in his eyes, even as her face had been sodden with tears and as her smile had been shaking with so much emotion.

For a moment, Wanda wondered why Cosmo had looked so vacant again, until he suddenly lifted himself from the stairs, and gently tugged her up alongside with him. Soundlessly, Wanda was pulled close behind him as Cosmo led her to their master bedroom on the far end of the second floor corridor. As they entered, the room came alive as the wall-mounted candlesticks blanketed the bedroom in a dim light. Wanda watched her husband curiously as he carelessly pulled his tie loose around his neck and threw it across the room, and the top buttons of his shirt had undone as he threw himself against the double bedded mattress in an exhausted heap. The blanket and pillows flew up into the air until they landed on top of him in an unkempt mess.

Wanda grinned with fatigue as she couldn't deny that the softness of the mattress looked incredibly inviting. She dragged her feet across the floor to eventually collapse on to the bed, and buried her face into her pillow as her cold hands were tucked beneath her head. And when she turned to glance to her side, she found Cosmo had been staring back at her with his trademark boyish grin lighting up his face. For a brief moment, Wanda's face deepened into a shade of red as she wondered what exactly Cosmo was thinking about to have a grin as wide as that, but as he shuffled closer to wrap his arm around her torso, Wanda's tense shoulders fell as she found that he had only buried his face close to her chest and gave into the comfort of being in her arms once again.

Wanda sighed as her scattered mind crawled out of the gutter, and held him close to her as her gentle smile returned. It was an indescribable feeling to be able to thread her fingers through his meessy hair again, and to have her husband cling on to her as if he couldn't ever tear himself away from her again. Wanda continued to smile and close her eyes as she gave in to this tired paradise. But it was suddenly short-lived as Cosmo's arms around her had surprisingly tensed.

"Wanda... why does so much bad luck happen to good people?" Cosmo quietly asked her as he nuzzled closer against the base of her collarbone, "I don't think we can blame everything on the anti-fairies, right?"

Wanda's eyebrows raised as she realised how he had repeated Timmy's earlier query. But, as she gave herself time to think about the answer, she suddenly reached down to press her lips against his hair. Cosmo felt his blood run faster to his heart as he felt this. Then, his ears perked up as Wanda finally spoke aloud with an amused smile,

"No, we can't blame the anti-fairies this time, sweetie." She laughed quietly, and Cosmo held her closer as if he wanted to fully embrace her happiness. Then, her voice quietened down to a soft murmur as she continued, "But, you know, I don't think I have a very good answer to that, really. It just seems like we're the sort of people that attracts bad luck. I suppose it must be because we're idiots."

"If you had said that before we made the wish to make me smart, I don't know how I would've taken that answer." Cosmo told her honestly as he pouted. However, he was incredibly overwhelmed by how at peace he felt with himself in Wanda's warm embrace. He closed his eyes as his whispered reply sounded as if he spoke with all of his happiness readily on the tip of his tongue, "But now... I don't care that I'm an idiot. I'm… I'm okay with it. Because I have you. And I don't need to be smart to love you. I love you, Wanda… I love… you…"

Wanda wondered if Cosmo had suddenly fallen asleep as his voice had trailed off. When she glanced down at him, she felt as if her heart had suddenly leapt out of her chest. His ear had pressed against her as if he was listening to the quickening pace of her heartbeat, and it sped faster as she felt her whole face had flourished into a brilliantly bright red. Then, as she calmed herself down, her fingers lightly brushed over his forehead to push away the messy stray hair covering his face. And she leant down to kiss him on top of his head once more, before she clasped a hold of his hand between them, and softly said,

"I love you too, Cosmo. No matter what life throws at us, no matter how we might change and grow, through all of our successes and failures, I'll love you just the same. I promise."

Cosmo's shaky grin returned as he felt right where he belonged. He didn't want to be anywhere else in the world at that moment, as he felt that this closure had set him free from the hefty weight that was holding him down all this time. He had escaped from the shackles of his own self-torment, with Wanda right by his side. As long as he had her, Cosmo felt like he could do anything, he could be anything he wanted, and he felt as if he had finally broken through the barriers that had held him back for so long… and he was simply... happy...

But suddenly, Cosmo's eyes flew open as a terrifying thought instantly pierced through his paradise. Wanda almost shouted in fright when Cosmo bolted upright with perspiration glistening over his forehead.

"What… what's wrong?" Wanda asked him as she felt her empty arms had already missed him.

Then, her eyes widened even further as Cosmo had quickly turned over his shoulder to face her, and his fear was incredibly apparent in his eyes as he shouted in terror,

"Crap! I forgot that I owe Anti-Wanda a pizza!"

As quickly as Cosmo had said this, Wanda had threw her head back in bursts of laughter as Cosmo fretted by her side. Over and over again, he repeated his fears that the anti-fairies were going to come back and take revenge, and Wanda could only reply through fits of laughter as she couldn't quite believe how quickly Cosmo's mood had switched. It was hilarious, and just so incredibly like him.

And when her laughter died down, and as she peacefully watched her husband fret by her side, she smiled widely as her heart overflowed with love just for him. She loved everything about him, whether he was smart or not. She just loved him all the same.

Cosmo calmed down as he felt her piercing gaze on him, and he only grinned back as it he finally realised just how funny he had looked to her then. His relief was immeasurable as he could only see the love in her eyes, and his heart couldn't contain his happiness as she accepted him for all that he was.

And although she loved everything about him at that moment, they both knew that if any of them changed throughout their inevitable winding future, their incredible strength of their feelings would survive…

...and remain the same.

…

…

…

_End_

* * *

**AN: **Thank you so much everyone for sticking around and reading until the very end! You guys are the best!

Honestly, cheers for everything! I'm so very grateful for all your messages and reviews, your favourites and your follows, all over the course of a year! That's _nuts!_ I hope you've enjoyed this journey as much as I have! This was always so much fun to write, and I'm a little sad that it all stops here. But on the plus side, I have many ideas for more stories in the upcoming future, so although it's the end for I'm Ready, Break Down The Barriers, it's only the beginning of many more of my writing to come!

It's been a great ride! I hope you guys will write to me and let me know what you think. Get in touch with reviews or messages, I'd love to hear your thoughts! I'll be back with more stories soon. Thanks again for reading! See you all soon!


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